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Rant & Rave
I'M writing this amid great frustration. It's prom season. Being of insane mind and soul, I suggested to one of my friends that she wanted to go to the prom with me. Prom’s joys offset
by ridiculously high costAsking her out was the fun part because I wasn't rejected. I had never asked a girl out before, so it felt sort of like a miracle. Maybe I'm not so socially inept.
But what frustrated me was how much attending the prom would cost. It would cost me $120 to pay for the bid, $60 for a package of unedible plants (flowers), $40 to $80 in tuxedo rentals (for one night), and a couple hundred for prom pictures. Pictures of me. With a girl. Definitely a Kodak moment -- nothing else could be more fascinating to those who know me.
When you come right down to it, you are paying to sit in a dark room and listen to music. You're buying beautiful, dead plants that can't stay fresh looking for more than a few days, and renting a piece of clothing invented by Europeans and not intended for our tropical climate.
You then allow your and your date's light reflections to be absorbed by light-sensitive chemicals to be put on a piece of paper. You are charged a few hundred bucks for a couple copies of those papers that visually capture the moment.
Oh, and there's that lifetime experience people talk about. That's what prom is about.
Meanwhile, as I dance the night away, some kids in Africa die due to starvation, heavily indebted nations are paying 50 percent of their budgets toward interest on outstanding loans forcing neglect of their own citizen's needs, and a million social programs could use more funds.
I hate complaining about money, especially because I knew what I was getting myself in to. But prom seems as unusual as buying name-brand clothing. Why would I pay extra for a T-shirt carrying, say, the Nike Swoosh logo, if I can get a plain T-shirt at a cheaper price? In order to become a walking billboard?
I'm going to sound like a Scrooge, but doesn't the amount I've spent on prom equal the amount spent to feed a family of four for a month, with some left over for a trip to the movies? Heck, isn't it a couple week's salary for a minimum-wage worker?
It's good to know the United States is capable of maintaining such high standards of living, but I'm frankly worried by this consumerism.
Friends justify this expense as part of having fun. This provides me with enough evidence to believe I can call them all fruitcakes. Where is the fun in spending so much money to dress up for a four- to five-hour event? Because it is different?
I really was surprised at how much money is used up in doing all this.
See, it is estimated that it would cost just a few dollars per person -- $3 dollars, I believe, based on the Jubilee 2000 Website -- to forgive all debt to the U.S. government by the most indebted countries, those incapable of dealing with their national hunger because they have to pay their debt to us.
Still, I paid the hundreds of dollars to go to prom. Because my date is enjoying herself.
Obviously, going to the prom is not going to be something I will ever do again.
Sigh. It really feels horrible knowing I'll never perfect the art of buying flowers ...
Sechyi Laiu is a senior at Damien Memorial High School. His prom took place Saturday and he is still confused by it all. Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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