I remain aware of the
Officials Code of Ethics.
- Officials at an interscholastic athletic event are participants in the educational development of high school students. As such, they must exercise a high level of self-discipline, independence and responsibility. The purpose of this Code is to establish guidelines for ethical standards of conduct for all interscholastic officials. [Some of this Code is:]
- Officials shall uphold the honor and dignity....
- Officials shall ... comport themselves in a manner consistent with the high standards of their profession.
- Officials shall remain mindful that their conduct influences the respect that student-athletes, coaches and the public hold for the profession.
Quite possibly, the words (ie., responsibility, ethical, honor, dignity, standards, influences) will have different personal meanings to individual Officials. And regardless of whether we totally or partially agree with the exact measure of *What is Right" during a contest, it is important that each Official is "true to self", that our purpose, our reason to officiate has not been influenced by factors that lie somewhere outside our realm of propriety.
Yes, the Rules should be applied and must never be mis-applied.
Yet, if the rules do not specifically include what we may personally view as the
Wellness of the Game, it is not unjustifiable that, left with nothing else to employ, we default to our personal sense of "right".
If we see an adult and a youth in a heated exchange [in a parking lot, in a yard], with no written rules in that lot or yard, are we obliged to observe, to act, to follow our gut, or to look away and let another fix it.
...Whatever! Without a particular rule, do what personally feels right.