About Sweetmama Editor
Nadine Silverthorne’s love of journaling began in Grade One with the entry, “I am the greatest dancer!” Two babies (and countless diaper changes) later, she has found her home away from home as editor of SweetMama. Don’t miss her humorous bi-weekly accounts of the joys and pains of working while raising them fabulous.
Should Teens' Errors Be Forgiven?
silver spoons: vancouver rioters and social media canada
(Jun.22.11)
Canadians. We're a peaceful, apologetic bunch, eh? So how horrified we all were at the images from Vancouver on the night of the Stanley Cup Final? Angry middle class white boys "rioting" (I use that term lightly as there was no just cause for the mayhem), destroying one of Canada's prettiest cities, just for kicks.
One by one, people were identified via social media. At first I was all, "Wow! This is great! Shame on the baddies! That'll learn ya!"
And then a young athlete by the name of Nathan Kotylak was identified. Images showed him stuffing a t-shirt in a gas tank, about to light it on fire. Reports came out about his promise as a rising polo star and his family seemed lovely. And I remembered what I was like as a teenager, and how sometimes, no matter how well your parents raised you, it was tough not to be swept away by the mob mentality.
I'm not excusing the behaviour. I think it's heinous that Vancouver went from staging the Olympics to being put on the world stage in quite the opposite light. But I remember when the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series in 1992. I was at the Skydome (now the Rogers Centre) watching the game on the Jumbotron. And when our team won, my sister and I (along with our friends) rushed the field, pulling up bits of turf to keep as souvenirs. OK, it wasn't setting cars on fire, but we did miss the last subway home and walked for miles before calling my parents to come rescue us at 4am. (I can still remember my dad's face after driving through that chaos.)
Personally, I can't imagine making the mistakes of teendom in this era of social media and "Big Brother is watching you." If everything I ever did as a teen could potentially make it onto the news, how would I have been able to discover my moral boundaries? Kotylak has since made a very public apology for his actions (he's Canadian after all) after public pressure and his desire to stay in competitive sports. No doubt he's learned his lesson, but at what cost?
Did this nice 17-year-old kid do something wrong? Absolutely. But should we tar and feather him and never let him realize his potential because of one REALLY illegal boneheaded move (where thankfully no one got killed)?
The jury's out. As a mom, I'm conflicted. What if that were my son? Or yours? What do you think?