If I only owned this shirt. I would be sporting it at this very moment. I received an email this afternoon letting me know that my team would be performing at a McCain/Palin rally this week. The rally is being held at the school and they are expected to be there to represent their school. That's crap! This is a televised event. They will be expected to cheer when the candidates are announced and cheer during key points of their speeches. I tried to find out if we were told or asked to participate in this rally and what we would do if an athlete felt strongly enough not to participate (we have a strict participation policy). The only answer I received was that they would be there to represent the school and not there to support any specific candidate. Yes, I am passionate about this because I think that Palin is the devil, would you want her to come anywhere near you? What fires me up the most is that there is not choice in the matter. This is huge. Not only are they not allowed to vote, but now they are being forced to smile, look pretty and cheer for someone who may go against everything they belive in. Even if this was an Obama rally, I would want them to have a choice in whether or not they participated in a rally.
I don't really know what to do right now. My first reaction is to get angry, scream, protest. I know this may not be the best way to handle the situation. I want a positive, intelligent way to react. I am in a position of authority and have to be careful how I handle this. My own agenda should not interfere with what is in the best interest of the kids. This is a great learning opportunity but I fear that it will end up being a gross example of exploitation.
Some ideas that have been suggested are:
- Wearing Obama patches on their bloomers
- Wearing "Yes We Can" hair ribbons
- Doing the routine to the "Yes We Can" song
Update: The rally has been moved from the school. The community was in such an uproar over a partisan event being held during school hours that they were able to use their voice and get the rally moved. Love it!
2 comments:
They have to perform to the "Yes We Can Song"
They could support Palin by pretending to be pregnant teenagers, and wear baby bumps.
This feels like an old school episode of 90210. I think Brandon is going to write something about this for the school paper.
I love you and number4of5 ... you ladies rock my world. I too would have been fired up! Remember when I was so upset that Cheney would be speaking at BYU's graduation and that I was furious and disappointed and said if I were graduating that year that I wouldn't have walked ... yeah I know how you felt about this. Sheesh ... some people are so silly and don't think things through.
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