Saturday, June 15, 2013

An open letter to the vandals

Dean vandals,

I don't know why you did what you did. I don't understand why you would punch a hole into the 77 Lancers trailer, or rip off the sponsor decals, or hang color guard poles from the basketball hoop. I'm not sure what's going on in your life to make you hate the Lancers, or where your parents have been the last few years when you should have learned that this is definitely not cool.

But I'm not going to judge you. I would, however, like you let you know a few things you might not have known about the kids who march in the 77 Lancers.

I know them pretty well. My daughter is one of them, of course, as I've stated here many, many times. She's the hardest working person I've ever met. But she's just one of 85 kids who are some of the most committed you'll ever meet. I'm sure you've met some of them.

They've been meeting off and on for the past few months, but really it's been the last week that they've gone from knowing nothing to learning an entire drill. These kids spent a week of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m practices working extremely hard to get as good as they could get. Sore feet, sore shoulders, sun burn, aching knees. And they do it all because they love to perform for the community.

The night before your little vandalism party, they were competing in the Lake Crystal Duck Days Battle of the Bands, going head to head with their arch-rivals from Park Center. They came together as a group, each section doing its part, all parts working in harmony, or as close to harmony as they could get (they are, after all, still learning, still working hard, still getting better). True team work. When it was done, there was joy. They'd won. They hugged. A few of them cried. They applauded for the other bands. And when it was over and all the other bands had cleared out, the Lancers stayed behind and cleaned up the awards area. Why? Because along with learning to be a good marching band, they're learning how to be good citizens, and learning what it means to be a source of positive energy.

How many of you were participating in this vandalism last night? How much team work did it take to pull this off? How rewarding was it to do enough damage to our organization that we needed to call the police, and will likely have to spend hundreds, maybe a thousand dollars to fix that trailer (a trailer that hauls uniforms, instruments, water, etc. to all our parades.)? Are you proud? Did you finish what you'd done and step back and say, "Damn, we're good, and we worked really hard for that, we're proud of what we've accomplished" ???

No. Of course not.

Like I said, I won't judge you. But I will judge your actions, and I think what you did was ... sad. Our kids will move on without missing a beat, of course. A little vandalism isn't about to dampen the spirits of 85 kids who are focused on working as a team and doing their very best. If what we saw in the parking lot this morning was your best, well then ... wow. I wish you the best of luck.

Our Lancers are off to Owatonna this morning, Waconia this afternoon, Hutchinson tomorrow and a bunch more before they head out to Traverse City, Mich. for the National Cherry Festival.

Everywhere they go they represent the community with pride.

How do you represent your community?

Sincerely,

Robb

5 comments:

  1. The 77 Lancers experience helped ensure that our two daughters became wonderful adults who are mature, respectful, dedicated to their employment, and who can pack a suitcase and then roll in record time!

    I am tempted to believe that the vandals have less than optimal family backgrounds, and perhaps didn't learn how to respect other people and their property.

    At any rate their irresponsible actions were just so wrong, and we can hope, some future day, regrettable to them

    I sincerely hope justice catches up with them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just another show of kids that have not learned respect from their parents! I hope that someday they have something of theirs destroyed by jerks like them!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Idiots of the I Wanna Be Cool Club:
    Seriously?!? What in the hell did the Lancers do to you? No, really...what? Wait! Let me guess! All 85 of them have a brain & you don't...making you jealous! So, you think punching their trailer will make you GET a brain! I get it! Gee! How flippin' smart AND cool!

    I honestly hope they catch you and make you pay for the damages AND then plaster your brainless heads on the front page of every newspaper in the world with these headlines: I punched a bands trailer cuz I wanted a brain!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think if these vandals are caught & hopefully they will be. They should all line up WITH their parents and take pictures. I'm sure the parents would love this as they would be so proud of what they've raised. More power to you Lancers !!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shelly from Mantorville, MNJune 16, 2013 at 6:59 AM

    WOW! How horribly WRONG!! I don't even know these kids and I can feel for their parents and them. Can life really so bad that this is something that would make a person happy?!?!?!? Chin up Lancers! Go get 'em! Pretty sure this makes you all stronger and more determined to show 'em what you got!!

    ReplyDelete