Be Good. Be Orange.

Being Orange, Joe Jaeger Style

Being orange can have many different meanings. At the beginning of the term I may have had a different answer for what being orange meant. But after learning more about philosophy and myself I have learned what being orange means to me. Being orange to me has several different meanings. Respect, accountability, and responsibility are what being orange means to me.

When I first enrolled for this class I was immature towards opening up and thinking about my own personal values and morals. Over this course I was taught how to be able and distinguish between what I thought was truly right and wrong. In our groups we would argue and discuss between values and why things were moral or immoral. This helped mold my interpretation of what being orange meant.

Responsibility is being orange because in order to be part of the orange community one has to be a past, present, or future Oregon State University student or professor or faculty staff. Students are orange because they make up most of the orange population. Professors are orange because they’re part of OSU and teach the students. The Faculty is orange because they’re part of the orange experience and are in charge of making the University the best place it can be. To me responsibility is orange because all of the orange community is responsible for the image of this university and everything it embodies. As being orange we’re responsible for ourselves but for the other orange community members. Just like our last names are important to us and has real value and meaning, so should being part of the orange community; Reputation. Our reputation is important and is one of the main issues of responsibility. When anyone orange succeeds we all succeed. When anyone orange makes bad choices and creates a bad image, it affects all of us orange Responsibility to me is being orange because being orange is bigger than one person.

Throughout my time here at OSU, this is my third year, I have matured a lot. I used to think that being orange was just an individual thing or maybe a thing between a group of a few. After taking this class and writing in my self-care journal I learned that being orange is a community not a person. Being orange is a past, present, and future community and not a present one. I learned through myself that being orange is always evolving and growing. Being orange continues to grow every year. My being orange value is centered around people and not just a person. The values being orange means to me are those that affect others and oneself. Values to me are impactful choices one makes that influence others. An example of this value definition is someone choosing to drive drunk through campus and kills several students on the way with their car. This affects the students who were killed, their friends, their family, the other students on campus, the professors and really anyone who is orange. We would all hurt. That is what being orange is all about. Being a community and choosing to be good in order to be responsible for those who are also orange.

Respect is also what being orange is. I want being orange to be respected. I want those who are not orange to respect those who are orange so much that they learn from us and give respect to everyone. Being orange can be a role model and an example to others. It can teach others what respect is, which is a goal of mine. I would love to have others, who are not orange, see how being orange is such a positive thing and follow my being orange examples of respect, accountability, and responsibility.

The last part of my being orange belief is accountability. In ethics we learn how to more or less choose between good and bad morals. We learn that ethics are a big part of life and something we use every day even when we’re not aware of it. In class we did an activity called ethic spotting. Ethics spotting is when you sit back and watch people and see what choices they make on everyday tasks. Tasks like saying thank you to someone or throwing away your trash when done eating or even just holding the door open for someone. After taking ethics class we were taught certain things, now how do we apply them after class is over and how accountable will we be. We now are more aware of our actions and need to respond to what we learned. Accountability is being orange because it shows we learned something and were able to incorporate it into everyday life. Accountability is tough because usually no one is watching and it is up to the individual to be accountable. Morally are we going to make the correct choice? Are we going to hold ourselves and others accountable for choices and decisions made that affect the whole orange community? This also involves respect and responsibility. These three ideas I have about being orange go hand in hand with each other and mesh pretty well. One can’t really be used without the other ones. I believe being orange is not an individual thing, rather it is an ethical relationship we all share.

Everyone has different ideas of what they believe in ethically and morally, but that’s what’s great about being orange. Being orange isn’t just one person’s ideas or beliefs or even choice sometimes, but it is a life style. Our university is very diverse and has many types of people and personalities and styles. That is what makes being orange so special. We’re not a one size fits all, we’re a complex, constantly evolving community who are called orange. I believe radical and insane ideas are what make being orange unique. Being orange is limitless, it is infinite. We’re a school full of dreams and ideas, so why not succeed and accomplish those dreams and ideas as an orange community. We’re a school full of dreams and ideas, so why not succeed and accomplish those dreams and ideas as an orange community?

What makes ethics different than a lot of classes is the fact that there is never a correct answer. There is choices made by individuals that can are believed to be correct or incorrect, but since there is no true answer for everyone we will never be perfect. Not being perfect is one of the best things because it allows us to grow and become what we want to become. Philosophy is an opportunity more than anything because it holds us to standards, but those standards are judged by the ones who are doing the thinking or decision making. We make the standards. We don’t have a book to check and say ok I am wrong. We have ideas and beliefs that we feel are valid, and that is how we live our moral lives. We set our moral boundaries and vulnerability. We go as deep into our minds as we want, not someone else, but ourselves. Philosophy allows us to be in charge and to feel the control. That is what being orange is. Everyone has a different answer or idea about what being orange means. Sweet! Creativity and uniqueness are the best part of an individual. Being orange to me is a community, but within that community there are individuals and within those individuals there are ideas. Ideas are the source of all existence. Existence is what we perceive in our own image and thought. Being orange is everyone’s own personal existence and what it means to them. Being orange to me is responsibility, respect, and accountability, but that’s just the beginning. Being orange is never ending.