beach balls at graduation: that was then, this is now

Today's letter to the editor from Daniel Walters is well-intentioned but a little late.

A July 1 letter to the editor titled "Activities director tried to spoil fun" by Janet Stewart needs perspective. After attending a Timberline High School graduation ceremony, Stewart encouraged graduates to continue their clever bouncing of beach balls during their graduation ceremony and denounced the beach-ball-confiscating high school activities director, stating the director should "get a life."

The Capital High School graduation I attended a couple years ago also had beach balls bouncing and flying around during the ceremony. Only I had a very different reaction. I felt totally embarrassed and ashamed of the beach ball students as they were disrespectful to keynote speakers, school board members and students addressing the formal assembly. The speakers were interrupted several times and struggled through their deliveries as the audience was shamefully distracted by the rude students.

Speakers at graduation assemblies and formal events have important messages to share, and it is paramount they have the attention and respect of the audience - period. Believe it or not, there may be people in the audience that actually would like to listen to the speakers without being distracted.

There is certainly a time and place for the use of beach balls and for having fun, but not during formal graduation ceremonies and especially not while there is a speaker at the podium.

Parents and teachers need to be mentors, set good examples and promote respectful behavior among others. I can sum up my point in two simple, gracious words - common courtesy.

I was at the same graduation Walters sat through a couple years ago, and I remember the annoyance of the beach balls. I wondered if I'd have to deal with them as I gave my speech--and even had a quip at the ready.

What Walters doesn't realize is a simple fact of human nature, though: if you take a ham-fisted zero-tolerance approach, you worsen a situation. The reverse is true as well.

This year was much different. Beach balls reappeared at Capital's commencement, but instead of marching through the facility and shaking down the student body, the administrators and speakers laughed it off. Superintendent Lahmann even joked about CHS's future as a volleyball powerhouse.

The result? The beach balls surfaced only in between speakers and activities, and, within moments, fell back to the floor, waiting for the next break in the action. As students began to receive diplomas, three gave their deflated beach balls to the three CHS administrators, who smiled and shook their hands. At the end of the ceremony, when students tossed their caps roofward, the administrators batted those suddenly-inflated beach balls back at them, a great show of lightheartedness and a spirit of joy appropriate to the day.

Like humans and fish, courtesy and fun can coexist peacefully.