REFER TO GREY: Contemplations by Robert Greigos © 2007-2024

Few moments in the life of a young person take on more significance than Prom Night. Through years of schooling the society of schoolmates has been a caldron of experimentation. Prom Night is the final final exam, a statement regarding identity that will be endured for years to come. "At least as good as" is the only endurable outcome. Anything less is social oblivion.

Layers upon layers of choices determine the character of the statement that will be realized on Prom Night. Health, physical fitness, mental awareness and reserve are the foundation upon which that character rests. Wit, grace, humility, warmth, humor, compassion, and generosity are the valued expressions of maturity that parents and teachers everywhere have tried to nurture. With every choice the developing child makes, another layer of character is added.

Peers either concur with the values of parents and teachers or they don't. When they do not concur, the choices to be made by developing students become increasingly difficult. No young person wants to lose the esteem of either peers or parents and teachers. It is a wise and effective parent or teacher that successfully convinces both peers and individual young people of the virtue of values being espoused. Failure to do so significantly increases the confusion and difficulty young people face when choosing.

The unsung heros of every successful Prom Night are the wise parents and teachers who create opportunity for the blossoming of young people into a welcoming society of virtue.