This whole situation where the young person is being banned from going to the prom for his action of asking a young lady to attend with him on the wall of the school has gotten completely out of control. And it has become a spectacle that for some reason has gotten more people involved in jumping on, and knowing about than what is necessary for the situation to get resolved.
Before I begin my opinion here I just have to point out a couple of things. 1) I have not forgotten what it means to be a kid, and do things on a whim. 2) I have not forgotten what it means to have romantic feelings. Frankly they are close to the same thing. The giddiness that you feel in trying to attract someone, impress them, win them, is kid-like and that feeling should never be forgotten. Now combine the two things of being a kid, and being smitten provide a recipe for some awkward things that can be cute, and painful to watch also. That said, here is the situation the way I see this prom circus, and I may get hammered for this by people but I'm putting it out there for folks to think about through this little giddiness that I see happening.
Was it a nicely intended gesture on the kid's part? Absolutely. He should have used some better judgement but he's a kid, and kids do silly things in the name of good intentions. Is the punishment over the top? perhaps, but those aren't the fundamental issues that I see here. There is an opportunity to teach an important lesson here about consequences. If you do something unconventional even if it had the most wonderful intentions that you could have, there will probably be consequences. That is an important lesson to learn. It doesn't matter if the punishment is too severe, the kid has to know that some sort of reaction is going to be prompted from doing something that involves property that is not his. Not everyone is going to go gaga and sigh with hearts floating around them as he involves school property. Once again, I am not condemning the kid, because everyone knows where his heart was. I am just pointing out a fact, and that fact is when you do things in life there are consequences, and if you don't learn it early, you won't learn it as an adult, and Facebook people, Oprah, and Jimmy Kimmel are not going to save your ass as an adult. Which brings me to my second point which is "The Bandwagon"
More folks have gotten involved in this very small issue and you would think that someone got killed, or that there was some traumatic scarring of psyche involved. This to me is a perfect example of how mountains are made from mole hills, and how adults are the ones that make them. There will always be some cause big or small that people want to jump on, especially if it's something that is perceived as a "feel good" cause. People for the most part just want to be a part of something, anything that makes them feel like they have some sort of voice when sometimes they need to know just what they are voicing. If this kid had somehow gotten hurt, the same folks would have called him an idiot, or demanded that the school have better security to prevent a situation like that again.
But what the folks on the bandwagon are doing is advocating selective leniency. "Oh c'mon the kid was just being creative" are the cries I hear, but that's not the point. The school is enforcing the law. The very law that parents asked for. Do I think the kid should be able to attend his prom? Sure why not, but make him do some community service or something to show him that acts even with good intentions breed consequences. That's the important lesson he should learn. But for some reason if he doesn't attend his prom then Jesus it's not gonna kill him. He'll get over it, and if he doesn't then it is absolutely true that we are raising a nation of candy asses.
Does anyone need nationwide press for this crap? absolutely not. This issue could probably be resolved somehow without any help from Oprah or Jimmy whoever. Now that they are involved you prompt people to become not so genuine in order to get their 15 minutes of fame, and you also send a message that you will get saved by folks later in life for missteps of judgement, and positive attention if you make it look cute.
Call me irrational, call me a old fart without sympathy if you want. I have stated that I understand why the kid would do it, and me being a romantic that I am would have probably done the same thing if I didn't like heights so much, but that's not my point at all. I'm just trying to point out the peripheral messages that are being sent during this clown show, and it is being taken waaaay to seriously. There is now as I write this a standoff between consequences, and bandwagon outcry. For the love of God...Somebody do something to make this turn back into a mole hill.
No comments:
Post a Comment