My first thought was, "Seriously? Arrested?" but as she went on I started wishing she would just suck it up and stop whining. I may have even talked to the TV, advising her to just stop talking, but I won't admit that publicly. Because that would have been just a little weird.
Look, I get it. She was thrilled her kid was graduating; she wanted to show that. But she also knew upfront that the audience had been warned that cheering was not permitted and that those who did would be escorted out.
She cheered anyway.
The audience was forewarned that those who acted out when being escorted out would be arrested; she claims she didn't do anything, but was placed under arrest anyway.
I doubt the cops arrested her for the joy of it.
Do I think she should have been arrested? No. It hardly seems worth the time and effort to go through all the paperwork for a disordely conduct charge under the circumstances.
Do I think she should have been kicked out of the ceremony? Absolutely.
And hell, for argument's sake, let's say my kid followed hers across the stage. She hears her daughter's name and starts cheering; she gets her moment, gets the thrill of hearing that name as her kid strolls over and gets her diploma. But my kid, who's next in line? I miss hearing his name because she's making so much noise. He worked hard, too; as his parent, I have just as much right to enjoy the thrill of hearing his name and she does, yet her over-exuberance robbed me of that. Hell, I might not even notice that he's next, and I missed the whole thing.
It's a matter of fairness.
My kid's accomplishment is no less worthy of acknowledgment than your kid's, but your behavior can certainly tarnish the moment everyone has been waiting for.
If the rules had not been stated upfront, I would have a lot more sympathy for this woman. But she knew cheering was prohibited, and decided that because "she" worked so hard to get her daughter to that moment that the rules did not apply to her.
It doesn't work that way.
It shouldn't work that way.
I'm wondering now if this woman is whining about how "they" ruined her daughter's graduation.
No, lady.
"They" didn't.
You did.
5 comments:
They've been talking about this on the local news too. Yeah--the arrest maybe a bit much. Maybe they had issues in other years with parents who had been escorted out acting out so there was an arrest. However, didn't the kid have to do community service because of her bad behavior too? That seemed wrong to me. Not cheering for your kid is nothing new (as the newscasters tried to make it sound). We had that back in the dark ages when I graduated--1981 and 1985 respectively. People were apparently more polite as I don't recall folks getting escorted out...
I never came across this issue before. We had a class of 3000 graduate and the parents and family were cheering. No one missed their kids name. I also attended a graduation of less than 200 and family was encouraged to cheer!
But she was told beforehand cheering was not allowed and she did any way. rules are rules!
When the Boy graduated college, it was a very tiny class (acting program only) and one of the family in attendance hooted and hollered and was *loud.* It was all right, given the small venue and that there was plenty of time and each student got to speak and was acknowledged.
But in large graduations? The names are read out so fast that there's no time for someone to stop being loud in order for the next name to be heard.
I think it all boils down to whether or not someone chooses to be selfish or not.
I hadn't heard about the daughter being required to do community service...that's just wrong.
I read about this & felt badly for the mother.
However, the article did not mention the fact that there had been rules set out beforehand, that cheering was not allowed.
The exclusion of this fact changes the picture entirely.
The mother was obviously proud, but I'm sure the other parents were as well...she just should have followed the rules.
Once the ceremony is over...cheer & yell all you want...just allow others to hear & enjoy their moments as well.
I agree with you. I remember my children's graduation ceremonies; there were always a few who disregarded the rules about not cheering, and those surrounding them in the audience always made their discomfort known. It is a bad idea to act that way and sets a bad example for the grads and their sibs.
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