On Proms & Priorities…

By: Mike Rudon Jr.

A friend of mine recommended I listen to a song called ‘beautiful mess’ and give him my reaction. I don’t think he’ll be asking me to do that anymore. See, one line in the song goes something like this – ‘What a beautiful mess this is…it’s like picking up trash in dresses.’ Call me politically fixated or demented, but that line immediately made me think about Dean Barrow and his propensity for honey-coating every jagged, bitter, poisonous pill he shoves down our throats. Trash is still trash is still trash, no matter what fancy ball-gowns Mr. Barrow puts on when he dabbles in that trash. Okay, I know it’s not the reaction my friend had in mind, but he asked, didn’t he? Anyway, the image of Mr. Barrow in a fancy dress didn’t make for a pleasant night’s rest, so I decided to do some writing about another event featuring fancy dresses…

I’ve heard that proms for different high schools are happening right around this time. I couldn’t say for sure because I haven’t bought into the prom thing for a while now. Guess you can call me an old geezer, but I find it actually appalling how ridiculous and just plain stupid this whole passing out rite has become. Couples arriving in carriages or carried in by muscle-bound attendants or serenaded by mariachis or walking the red carpet strewn with rose petals. Hell, if I’m not mistaken, one couple actually came in a helicopter a couple years ago. Nothing but a damn ‘papisho’ if you ask me (or even if you don’t ask me)! In my day way, way way back when, the only thing on our minds was how long we had to stay under the watchful eyes of the chaperones before heading out to undertake other pursuits, whatever they may have been. I wouldn’t have believed that things would have changed so much, but I guess they have.

For the past years, prom has become a circus competition with everyone fighting to win the title of biggest clown. Sorry if this offends, and I’m sure it will, but I’m really pissed off about how much we have allowed a time-honored tradition to become a gaudy mockery. Now it’s all about who can make the most dramatic entrance and who can wow the crowd and solicit the loudest gasps and oohs and aahhhs. Hundreds of Belizeans apparently have nothing better to do than stand for hours wherever the prom is being held, and the paparazzi is no damned better, making the contestants in the big show feel like they’re going something great, something special…that this is something good.

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day and it left me stunned. His daughter was going to prom and just the hair and nails and makeup thing was costing something like $400. I was told by another friend that the in thing now is not to buy dresses in stores but to get them made so that nobody will have the same dress. She told me that dresses can cost more than $1000 each, depending on the design. Wow. And that’s not even counting the grand entrance. If you want to outdo your friends who themselves are sure to come up with some spectacular fireworks, some big bucks will be shelled out to ensure that you receive your necessary ovation at the gauntlet. It’s a damned expensive affair, people.

I don’t mean to bash anyone, though it may come across that way. I’m just thinking about the pressure which is being put on those who really do not have the money to put it all together. Yeah, there are those who can shell out the bucks for a helicopter entrance or a fancy speedboat ride up to the seawall in front of the venue. There are those who have no problem coming up with three or four or five or ten thousand dollars to make sure that the little prince or princess has a splendid night. Bully for them. But what about those who can’t? What I’m saying is that all the hype around prom which has pushed the event out of the expense stratosphere is unfair to those students whose parents can’t afford entrance by carriage at midnight in Cinderella style, with driver and footmen. Can’t blame the students for wanting to be like their friends and wanting to be part of the hype, and can’t blame the parents for wanting to give their kids the world. But it’s just not fair. It leads to people spending their last dollar on a prom night to remember and then eating bread and condensed milk by candlelight because they can’t buy food and have no money to pay the utility company. That crap happens…believe it.

What if we just tone it down a bit when it comes to prom? Yeah, it’s a rite of passage and an important one, but what if we remember that it’s a rite of passage and not a night at the circus with the clowns parading around the ring? What if we bring the respect back into prom and take out the papisho? Prom isn’t a bad thing…it isn’t. We’ve just made it into a ridiculous thing which is ridiculously and prohibitively expensive. Let’s revisit this thing, people, cause prom shouldn’t be about those fortunate few who can afford the frippery and foppery…it’s about our kids, all of them, taking that giant step into adulthood. Let’s give it the respect it deserves and see what happens.

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