Just Another Person's Opinion

From the Tribune and Georgian

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Opinion

Adults must set good example for local youth


Adults in the United States often repeat the following question: "What is wrong with kids today?"What many of them fail to account for is that "kids today" were raised by - or are being raised by - the very adults who utter that question.
The example set by their elders directly affects the behavior of the younger generation, and it is not only the parents' behavior that might teach children - by example - what is acceptable behavior.The first lesson adults need to learn is that children are not their peers. There has been ample criticism of the Camden County High School award-winning band out in the community, in the pages of the Tribune & Georgian letters to the editor section and by certain behaviors at football games.The purpose of being a part of a high school marching band is to learn - learn music, learn rhythm and get ready for college and possibly a career in the music industry. Part of that training requires a great deal of practice in order to be competitive with other marching bands, which Camden County's band clearly is.The practice schedule for a marching band to be ready for competition leaves little time to develop a second routine just to please the adults who attend high school football games.
We commend the parents and community members who support the football team, but why does that support stop there? What are we teaching our children when we boo a band that is bringing home awards and criticize a band director who is making that possible?But it is not just at the football stadium where adults need to check their behavior.Last weekend, St. Marys held its annual Search for the Yule Log. Admission was a toy to be donated to the St. Marys Police Auxiliary Badge of Benevolence for a needy child at Christmas, and the prize for finding one of the two yule logs was $100 cash. Competition was fierce, and while parents were allowed to help with the clues to get to the final place where the logs were hidden, they were not permitted to help look for the logs. The children were on their own.That, however, did not stop several parents from blatantly searching for the yule logs, while other parents stood on the sideline and followed the rules.A very young child in a stroller spotted the first log. The family attended the hunt with one purpose in mind: If we find the log, we will take the $100 to adopt a child from the angel tree and buy all the presents on that child's wish list.Even that noble intention did not stop other parents from whispering that the child's mother was the one who found the log, and it was unfair.The irony - if you missed it -_is that the people being criticized were the people who had the best of intentions, who were not going to "take the money and run,"_as many of us would.And they were following the example, literally, of last year's winner, who also donated her winnings to a charitable cause, but was also chastised for her own gesture. First, at the yule log hunt, and then in a letter to the editor because she bought gifts in Jacksonville rather than Camden County.Adults in the community should always think first before speaking or writing a letter. If we do that, we will raise a future generation of caring, tolerant and thoughtful people. After all, isn't that what we want most for our society?