I play on the tennis team and my team and I faced a moral and ethical situation
that, as a senior, made me make a hard but I hope right decision. I had to choose
between loyalty to my team and feeling sorry for somebody that has not been lucky in
life.
It happened a year ago when a new girl came to my team, our coach took her
because a friend of hers told her that the girl was homeless, that she went through a lot
in her life and the girl would work harder than anybody else. Our coach gave her the
chance to play with us because she thought she would appreciate it very much. We all
were on a scholarship for tennis and academics, we did not have to pay for books,
tuition or housing, so we were lucky. However, luckiness does not come by itself, I had
to work very hard in my life to get that opportunity, and once I got the scholarship, I had
to work even harder to keep it.
When this new girl came in, we all were very friendly with her, and I do not
know why she felt more comfortable with me that with the rest of the team. We started
hanging out, and I had to buy her food and everything at the beginning because she did
not seem like she could afford it. She knew the great opportunity that she had, she
would have never thought of the possibility of going to school without having to pay for
it.
When we started practicing and training the athletics department started
providing us with food, housing and a monthly stipend. This is the moment where the
girl started acting weird and taking advantage of all these things that they were giving
us. She started stealing food to give it to her boyfriend, because he did not have job so
he did not have money either. She took her boyfriend in the apartment and they started
