OPINION & EDITORIAL
Tipping over mopeds is not a victimless crime
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Also by Susie Strzelec:
- Exams 101 (December 9, 2002)
- Tipping over mopeds is not a victimless crime (November 14, 2002)
- America desensitized to terrorist reports (October 16, 2002)
- Tantrums on Wisconsin's political playground (September 4, 2002)
- Bikers should follow rules, too (September 16, 2002)
Related Stories:
- Mopeds a danger to all (February 14, 2002)
- Shifting gears (October 12, 2005)
- Underage drinking hurts economy (February 8, 2006)
- Victims fear police errors (February 23, 2007)
- Call for law (April 29, 2004)
by Susie Strzelec
Thursday, November 14, 2002
The manners of the people on this campus are horrendous. There have been far too many victims of these lacks of social judgment to let it slide any longer.
We all heard the same lecturing from our parents since we were small — “don’t touch; that’s not yours; keep your hands to yourself” and the most universal of them all, “you break it; you buy it.” If we’ve all heard the same things over and over, then why have people not actually fulfilled the actions that have been so instilled in us?
The biggest example of this problem comes from the fiasco on State Street during Halloween weekend. Breaking windows and looting are certainly not the kinds of behaviors our moms and dads had in mind when they were teaching us how to behave.
There is, of course, a less-extreme and far-more-common activity on this campus that shows the lack of manners of which I speak. The problem here is not the once-in-a-lifetime Halloween destruction; it’s the recurring problem of moped-tipping.
I am proud to say that I am a mopeder on this campus. I take great pride in the fact that my moped is only two years younger than I am, and it still runs beautifully. However, the lack of etiquette of people on this campus is quickly shortening the life of my little scootie.
Halloween night, after traveling up and down State Street with my friend Jen, I came home to see that my moped was tipped over. What makes it worse is that it wasn’t just mine; it was every single moped in the parking lot that met the same horizontal fate.
Some guy even had the nerve to laugh and say how funny it is that mopeds get knocked over. If I hadn’t been attempting to pick up all the broken, gas-spilling machines at the time, the laughing guy would have been knocked over himself.
It’s certainly not funny that mopeds get dumped every single night all over this campus; it’s vandalism, and it has got to stop.
Perhaps people don’t realize how old they are. We are not in grade school or high school anymore; we are in college. If we didn’t have classes to attend, we would be working full time, just like every other adult.
We have no excuse to act like children when we are clearly far beyond the age of getting away with horsing around in a destructive way. So, it comes down to another phrase we have heard our whole lives: Grow up.
Stop acting like it’s funny to tip mopeds, destroy bikes by bending their rims and making them impossible to ride or breaking windows and stealing from businesses on State Street. It’s time to realize we are all adults here, and when you vandalize as an adult, you are also subject to being punished as an adult.
Even the people who are not destructive on this campus are still lacking in manners. The parable of the good Samaritan taught us that if you see someone in need, you’re supposed to help him or her.
Instead of laughing at the misfortune of a moped or watching in amazement as you see one fall over, please have enough respect to walk over and pick it up. Mopeds and bikes are not heavy and they certainly won’t bite.
It wouldn’t kill you to help out a person so that they don’t come home to see their property is dumped over and, in the case of mopeds, out of gas because it has had time to leak out the entire contents of its gas tank.
Both Miss Manners and I would certainly appreciate the change in behavior.
Susie Strzelec (sstrzelec@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in psychology.
Anonymous (September 20, 2005 @ 12:16pm):
Anyone tipping over mopeds or in any other way destroying someone else property is jealous and usually mentally sick. While we would love to blame parents, it is more often the peer group that needs to be examined. The urge or desire to belong is often stronger then common sense. If you want to stop destruction of property you must first find the ring leaders of this peer groups and destroy them, either academically, socially, or emotionally. While most do not believe that, we humans, are pack animals nothing could be more true. We've all given in to peer pressure at one time or another. The difference is that most of us have a moral compass, while some of these poor idiots lack judgement.
