NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter to the editor. Email editor@newcanaanite.com to have a letter published here.
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As anyone who has spent several decades living in New Canaan knows, public social gatherings are met with a certain level of decorum that suits the event. Joy at the carol sing, excitement at the fireworks, reverence on Memorial Day.
Monday’s eclipse viewing in Irwin Park among the daffodils promised another shared experience with small groups of appreciative visitors, separate and distanced well from each other, all with the purpose of viewing a worldwide significant celestial event, some of us for the last time in our lives.
About halfway through the earth’s path, a crowd of loud, young soccer players arrived, shouting and screaming as they kicked a ball through the flowers and fields, disrupting the event and coming dangerously close to hitting a lovely couple who’d been there for hours quietly awaiting the event. The parents present did nothing to turn the children’s attention to what everyone else gathered to see, talked among themselves, most missing the event as it slowly unfolded.
Nothing was done to teach these children how to respect others, appreciate natural phenomenons and to understand that joining an event late and unprepared does not allow you to ruin it for those already present.
We are all diminished by the rude and ignorant behavior of others. I can only hope that those responsible read the New Canaanite and get the message, but I doubt they take the time to learn about the charm and dignity they could be part of if only they appreciated where they live.
Ellen Kiernan
Excellent letter. Maybe someone will forward this to the soccer coach – a guess is that the coach would definitely address this disrespectful and disruptive public behavior. And they will listen and correct themselves at minimum for their own current and future benefit. Just a thought.
Ellen, thank you for your writing about your recent experience in Irwin Park. Although the majority of parents are engaged in raising children with a moral compass (see the article about Open Doors, the fine work done by the New Canaan Chapter of the National Charity League, New Canaan High School SLOBs, Boy and Girl Scouts, etc.), there are parents who are more relaxed in disciplining their children. I am sure your letter will draw more comments.
As a former New Canaan resident, I love following your articles — especially “Now and Then”. I grew up on Seminary Street and then on Hampton Lane near the Bliss Estate. As such , I am anxious to read the “Part 2” of your “Now and Then” article on the Bliss Estate, but have been unable to locate the article. Perhaps I missed it, or maybe, the Part 2 segment has yet to be published? I would appreciate your clarification ,and if possible, could you email me the entire article? Thank you for your assistance in this regard. Sincerely, Meg Hammond.
I wasn’t aware that Emily Post had a chapter on proper celestial comportment. Nor was I aware that part of procedure called for respectful “separation and distance” for the 4 minute and 27 second viewing. To me it sounds great that the kids got to enjoy free play at a public park. In today’s world everything is so structured. Perhaps the children did not have the proper NASA issued goggles and that is why they were not looking up.
Young children engaged in healthy albeit boisterous activities sometimes do need to be reined in, but perhaps we as a town can set a better example. As reported in the “Did You Hear” section of the New Canaanite, 160 New Canaan residents voted to nominate for president a man described as a rapist by a federal judge who was found by a jury to have forcibly penetrated a woman, a sexual abuser who admitted on tape that he grabbed women by their private parts and bragged about getting away with it, a coward who dodged the draft and nevertheless called those who served “suckers” and “losers”, a man who is a traitor according to those who served under him and an insurrectionist who has blood on his hands for the violence and deaths he incited on January 6, 2021.
I too get worked up about my daffodils being trampled on by my grandkids, but we all should get actively and loudly worked up about someone who wants to “trumple” our democracy for his and his family’s own personal gain.
This man’s behavior, and that of those who support him, really does diminish us all. Let’s show our young and not so young children how to behave and respect others by rejecting the evil and danger represented by Trump and his ilk. Teach your children well. Children will listen.