Virtually no one acknowledges those who perform thankless tasks flawlessly. But should something go awry, or be perceived as having gone awry, those rightly or wrongly deemed accountable are invariably inundated with torrents of shrill abuse, most of it coming from sources utterly unqualified to criticize, let alone handle any similar responsibilities themselves.
Recent circumstances in Westbrook have put an unwanted spotlight on many of that city’s holders of thankless jobs, including, but not limited to, school administrators, coaches, social workers and law enforcement officers.
Some background: This past fall, more than two dozen Westbrook High School students were, per school policy, suspended from their athletic teams for attending a party where alcohol was both available and plentiful.
The subsequent overturning of those suspensions and the timing of that decision, which was made right before the football team’s state tournament game against top-rated Kennebunk, caused much consternation. An independent investigation conceded the perceived involvement in the process of a school committee member, whose son was amongst the suspended athletes, might have given some people the impression that undue influence had been wielded.
The city’s schools and those who nominally run them took a public relations beating over the episode, and the athletic director, a 1991 Westbrook High grad, stepped down, referring in his resignation letter to, “The incestuous culture of the community, individuals placing their own needs ahead of the overall group, and the inability for many to understand appropriate boundaries.”
Then last week, it happened again. Westbrook police were called to a “loud, large party” at 11:40 p.m. last Tuesday night, and upon arriving, reportedly discovered an unsupervised group of alcohol-fueled young people. Two 18-year-olds were arrested; nine others were issued summonses for under-age drinking. Several were Westbrook High School athletes who had been implicated in last fall’s incident. One repeat offender, the baseball team’s shortstop, was the son of the embattled school committee member.
So who’s responsible for these latest transgressions?
Some condemn those who lifted last fall’s suspensions, decrying both the timing of and judgment behind that decision. Others fault the parents of the involved youths. Shouldn’t they have some idea of where their kids are, particularly at 11:40 p.m. on a Tuesday night? And finally, there are those who blame the transgressors themselves. They were the ones who knowingly violated laws against underage drinking. Shouldn’t they ultimately be held responsible for their ill-considered, imprudent actions?
All those explanations are plausible, but incomplete. America’s ”“ and Maine’s ”“ unhealthy, co-dependent relationship with alcohol is no secret. Politicians compete to see who can decry the evils of binge drinking and drunk driving the loudest, but which of them is willing to tell the multi-billion dollar adult beverage industry it can’t continue to send out lavishly compensated celebrities, athletes, provocatively clad temptresses and youthful, good-looking men to pimp their products?
Watching any professional or major college athletic event live or on television without being bombarded with ads for beer or hard liquor is simply not possible, and most of those same sponsors are ubiquitous in any sports-themed print or electronic media as well. Alcohol purveyors have long since figured out that the best way to push (pun intended) their products on current and future consumers is through sports. They don’t even have to create a “Joe Camel”-type character to overtly appeal to the nation’s youth like Big Tobacco did, since a large enough portion of America is already hooked on booze.
No one should be looking down on Westbrook as some sort of dysfunctional community, and not just because people living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Finger-pointing is an inefficient use of energy that could be better utilized trying to design feasible long-term solutions to problems.
Too many parents of current or future high school students in every community in York and Cumberland counties keep well-stocked liquor cabinets in their homes, and regularly avail themselves of the contents. Some lecture their children on the value of clean living and exercise every night right before plopping down in front of an electronic screen, pouring themselves a beer or glass of wine, and continuing to imbibe until they wake up at (or after) bedtime. Others loudly disapprove of tobacco and/or marijuana use, yet occasionally indulge in a little “harmless” weed puffing themselves.
Young people may not have the breadth of life experience adults do, but they’re capable of recognizing the inherent hypocrisy of getting lectured about drinking with their friends by parental “role models” whose idea of “partying” is drinking with their friends.
Trying to avoid tackling difficult or thankless tasks is human nature. But the time for shrugging and saying “kids will be kids” is over. Not enough people are willing to take on the responsibility of what at times can be the most difficult, inconvenient and thankless job out there: parenting.
— Andy Young is an English teacher at a high school in York County. He’s also a parent of children aged 13, 11, and 8 who knows that the next decade or so is not going to be easy.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
