
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 9, 1990                   TAG: 9006110175
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ABUSED, SHE LEFT AND SAVED DIGNITY

THE WOMAN midshipman at the Naval Academy who was handcuffed to a urinal quit because the academy did not take appropriate action. Despite heated official denials from admirals and generals, hazing and damaging forms of psychological abuse go on at every military academy, college, or institute.

These methods are among the ways to weed out those divinely deemed "weak and unsuitable." However, when the hazing becomes extreme, the punishment must follow suit.

The first speech given by the top officer at a military academy or college includes the powerful message, "If you aren't good enough and can't take it, there's the gate."

Young people must be highly motivated to go to a military college. They must relish a challenge and have a great desire to serve others, take risks, and endure hardships. The resolve of such people strengthens in the face of "There's the gate."

A young woman was traumatized in the men's bathroom by people she had respected and thought she knew well. Her fellow midshipmen laughingly recorded her degradation on film.

Those guilty of trampling her dignity and her rights as a human being were penalized and given demerits. They are now marching toward graduation with uninterrupted military precision. In the future, they may command ships and perhaps entire fleets.

The victim resigned from the academy. For the past three years, she has worked extremely hard and sacrificed much in a place she will probably not want to visit in the future. She lost the remainder of her $150,000 education and her coveted diploma. She has gained an undeserved and unwanted notoriety.

Worst of all for her may be the persistent, nagging feeling that she couldn't take it. She may feel defeated before the challenge, "There's the gate."

Some of the rest of us are also handcuffed to urinals with our pictures being taken. Our self-respect is being systematically destroyed in jobs, marriages and other situations.

We dwell on the years invested and not the years to be lost. We forget that having security is like trying to preserve the foam of a retreating wave in our tightly cupped hands. Our happiness and contentment are faded and tattered.

Some of us do manage to crawl away and some vacillate until we're carried out. Would that we could gently cushion our self-respect in our arms and focus our eyes clearly on the future. Would that we could have the same courage as this young woman and walk out of the gate with steady, purposeful strides, and our heads held high. JOHN W. CHILES JR. CENTREVILLE

by CNB