I’ve been trying to enjoy the life stages of my older teens and the daily pits of emotions that they are sharing with us. So, writing hasn’t made the top of my priority list recently. Until, an event so shocking and downright sad just threw itself in my face this past weekend.
The 2020 CoVid virus has had such a toll on us all, worldwide. As I write this, we’re 1 year and 2 months into our historical pandemic and all the highs and lows it has brought our way. The highs have been shooting star high, and the lows to the bottom of the pit of what’s felt like hell some days. But to step back, and really take a deep emotional look into it all, there have been so many life changing emotional moments, and a lot for the good!
To keep this short and sweet, but to also put it out there like it should be,….This scenario puts us in the epic high school Senior prom activities. A year ago this time, Seniors were ripped out of school in March and never went back to be able to say their goodbyes. Their innocent small town school days were torn out from under them; no prom, no special celebrations, no graduation together, no grandparents or extended family to visit,….It may not sound hard to an adult, but to a 17/18 year old, these kids were absolutely heartbroken. 💔
So, what did our community do? We “adopted” them all! At our house we gathered together items to put in to thoughtful, age appropriate baskets. We tied school colored balloons on them, and my teens drove all over town hand delivering them to graduates. The amount of gratitude, the thank you cards from the Seniors themselves, and the tears shed was overwhelming! In this simple act we saw our kids grow so much emotionally that they were bursting at the seams.
Fast Forward to this school year,…..Due to the medically recommended and just plain common sense conditions, the local high school put together a “Seniors only Prom” send off event. No underclassman, no dates from other schools, just them, together. And it turned into an amazing event! Remembering that our Seniors today were the ones who also didn’t get a chance to go last year, rather they were putting together loving and thoughtful sendoffs for their Seniors.
Like a slap in the face, and I know I shouldn’t complain, but wow!!! This year a group of parents from the Junior Class choose to teach the lesson of exclusivity, entitlement, and in your face sadness for a lot of teens out there. The specifics of who are not known, or really important for this lesson, but this group put together a “Juniors only” Prom event, and did not even invite the entire Junior class. It was a parent led, and likelya financially privileged group only.
The emotions must have been so severe within this class, that it required the high school to send out an official email to the entire district saying that they were not the organizers, and they had no control over who got invited to this event. 🤦♀️
So the chance to choose the other path, the one where the juniors could have volunteered their time and donated their resources to help their seniors? No, this is where I run out of words,…..such an in your face example of how we are capable of treating each other wrong. When given the choice, please take a step back and try to realize the enormous life lesson that was completely lost here,….and sadly it happens all the time.
Imagine yourself as one of those 11th graders in high school who found out a group of parents decided to throw their own prom for your class, and chose not to invite you.
Sadly I felt this needed to be written. It’s just sad, that’s all. 😔
Live, Laugh, Love with everything you’ve got while you still can! 💜✨Thank you so much for being a part of my writing journey here. I truly appreciate and value you all.