A few weeks ago my Alma mater, Ridgewood High School, made the news, not for winning the state baseball championship, although that certainly would have been cool had they done it. They also didn’t make the news for coming in second which would have been almost equally as cool had they done that. No, what happened was this; The graduating class at Ridgewood High (ironically with a mascot name of Rebels) threw their caps high into the air at the end of the commencement exercise. What? That made the news you say? Yes it did, let me explain.
The story is really quite simple. The superintendent of the school made a request to the graduating seniors; Please do not throw your caps in the air as is traditionally done at the end of the graduation ceremony. If you do he stated, there would be consequences to pay. A simple request but one that many thought was unreasonable. So as the ceremony ended I’ll bet you can already guess what happened. That’s right, a majority of the students in their youthful exuberance, or defiance, depending on how you look at things, tossed there caps high into the air. The superintendent, obviously unhappy with this rebellious act, (Get it? Rebels) followed through with his threat and true to his word, imposed a punishment. Before I explain what that punishment was, let me tell you that this story, according to one of my Facebook friends, got so much publicity that it made headlines as far away as the UK. Now you’re probably saying to yourself, “Oh my gosh, what did he do to his students for this to generate a news story half way around the globe? Did he make all of the boys pull their pants up so their underwear wouldn’t show? Did he force all of the girls to retake their yearbook pictures without makeup on?” No, nothing quite that drastic, what he did was this, he withheld all of their diplomas. That’s right, just flat out refused to give one to anybody. And what an uproar there has been! Social media feedback was swift and heated. My unscientific survey showed a ratio of about 9 to 1 against the superintendents decision. Comments on Yahoo News and Facebook in response to the story, called out the Superintendent as an “Egomaniac,” and a “Dictator,” In a conversation I had with a friend, he stated that the superintendent must be on some kind of “power trip” to not allow the students to have a little fun. I couldn’t pretend to know what was going through the superintendents mind when he made his request to the students, but wondered aloud to my friend if maybe he was worried about someone getting hit in the eye with the corner of one of those caps, resulting in the school being sued. He looked at me as if I were nuttier than a fruit cake and said, “Really Dale, a lawsuit over getting hit with a graduation cap? Aren’t you being a little crazy ?” I suggested he go to the website legalzoom.com, search the site for frivolous lawsuits, and then get back to me with another, and possibly different assessment of my sanity. I in turn, decided to go to the bible to see if I could figure out what God would have to say about this story, and here’s what I discovered; It’s not a tale about egos, lawsuits, withheld diplomas, or ruining someones fun. It’s one of respect and obedience.
When Jesus was asked in the book of Matthew whether or not it was right to pay taxes to Caesar, His response was, “Give to Caesar what is Caesars, and to God what is God’s.” What does that mean? Well, according to the NIV Study Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, the explanation is this; There are obligations to the state that do not infringe on our obligations to God. In a nut shell, I understand that to mean that God does not want us to obey the authorities only when we agree with them, He wants us to regularly obey them, as long as by doing so, our obedience does not place us in direct conflict with His word.
So here’s my take on the great cap throwing caper; Was the superintendent at my former high school being an egotistical, power hungry dictator with no good reason for what he did? Maybe he was, I don’t know, but does it matter? I don’t think it does. He was placed in a position of authority and made a request of the students, (for whatever reason) not to throw their caps in the air. This was a request which the students may not have agreed with, but it did not put them in direct opposition with any of God’s laws. In other words, in no way did the superintendents request infringe on any obligation the students may have to God. My opinion, apparently an unpopular one, is that they were asked not to throw their caps and shouldn’t have.
But let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that this is a story about disrespectful teens, because it’s not. It’s a parable about people in general. It’s who we’ve become. It’s an attitude we’ve adopted. “Who are you to tell me what to do?” “That’s a stupid law!” “That’s a ridiculous rule!” “I’m going to do it my way!” We’ve become like the 6 year old child who says, “You’re not the boss of me!” News flash! In some cases yes, that person is the boss of you.
It reminds me of one of my neighbors who consistently rolls through a stop sign at the end of our block, because according to him, “I’m in a hurry, and besides, that’s a dumb place to have a stop sign. In order to justify doing things his way, those will always be good enough arguments. Right up until the day he’s in such a hurry that he fails to see that little kid on his bike approaching from the right.
Not the same as throwing a graduation cap in the air? I’m not so sure. It kind of sounds like different symptoms, same illness.