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The Prom: Snowflake Style

“NO ONE IS LEFT OUT, NO ONE GETS TURNED DOWN” The high school prom is – or was – an American institution. For some people, it was the high point of their lives – something they will always remember (and in many cases, never live up to).  For others, it was a…

“NO ONE IS LEFT OUT, NO ONE GETS TURNED DOWN”

The high school prom is – or was – an American institution.

For some people, it was the high point of their lives – something they will always remember (and in many cases, never live up to).  For others, it was a nerve-wracking ordeal they would rather forget – but quite possibly a motivating force that drove them to greatness in their careers (or angst as an excessively emo barista).

For most of us?  Prom was something in between …

Kids at a Catholic School in the Land of Lincoln won’t get the chance to experience these formative moments, though.  At Aquin High School in Freeport, Illinois, prom dates are chosen via a “prom lottery,” according to the Today show.

To be clear: Private and parochial schools are permitted to do as they please – and the students at this school unanimously embrace their unique social ritual.

“Even students with regular boyfriends or girlfriends participate, and the prom turns into more of a group activity than a romantic date, with friends eating and taking pictures together throughout the night,” Today noted.

Which makes it kind of cute …

Still, we couldn’t help but view the whole “no one gets left out, no one gets turned down” theme of this whole thing as another disappointing commentary on contemporary American “un-exceptionalism.”

And while we don’t expect these good Catholic school students to turn into raging leftist snowflakes, still … is this sort of thing helpful for a young person’s development?  We get the underlying commonality of it all … but what about the flip side?  Do we really expect life to unfold for these kids in such a way as to remove all adverse consequences from their path? 

Of course not.  So why prepare them for such a life?  Why remove the elemental risk and reward that fuels our upward dialectic?

Seriously … at what point is our society teaching people not to try?

As we’ve previously noted from an economic standpoint, creative destruction is a good thing.  As any omelet maker will tell you, broken eggs are a prerequisite to deliciousness.

Same with individuals …

Energy is neither created nor destroyed.  And being able to effectively channel the energy of rejection, loss, defeat … you name it … is absolutely vital to the creative process (and to our evolution as human beings and societies).

Removing it may seem harmless … but we would argue it is immensely harmful to the evolution of one’s character as well as the character of our country.

In fact we don’t need to argue that … look around.

Banner via iStock

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