Love Shouldn’t Be Blind To Life’s Passing Crowd

For hormonally driven teens, it’s difficult not to show tenderness to a loved one, no matter the location or the company.

The question, however, is, “Where should you draw the line between a quick kiss on the cheek and a pure one-on-one, tongue-locked session?”

This topic spurred much discussion among Spokesman-Review Teen Council members. Most council members said that public displays of affection, or PDAs, are acceptable if short and sweet.

Almost every council member, however, had a story to tell of a young, affectionate couple that has practiced less-than-politically correct ways of displaying their passion. (Yet, with the Clinton Administration, “politically correct” may be taking on a new meaning).

Many shared stories of couples that blocked already crammed hallways, and one member complained about the couple that shared their moment pressed against the girl’s locker.

Most of the time these displays escape the watchful eyes of school officials. In one situation, however, a young couple’s lip-locked episode blocked traffic in the hall. Much like a traffic accident on east Sprague, oncoming traffic could do nothing but slow down and watch the entanglement.

Finally, an English teacher arrived and instead of issuing a cease-and-desist order, began taking notes on a clipboard. This humiliated the pair; they, quickly parted and took off.

Policing PDAs with laws or rules is out of the question, council members said.

Public affection, they said, is a matter of personal value; you have to draw the line yourself.

But most of the council members said teens and adults alike should adhere to an unwritten societal standard of what’s appropriate. A quick hug or kiss is OK, but the exchange of ABC (already been chewed) gum is a bit much for the rest of us to swallow.

Whether couples engage in PDAs because their passion for one another is too strong to keep in check, because it gets attention or simply because it’s fun, we’d all be better off if they would remember this rule: When in public, pretend your parents are watching.

MEMO: Kevin is a junior at Cheney High School Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a Your Turn column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write Your Turn, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615.

This sidebar appeared with the story: ABOUT TEEN VIEWS The Spokesman-Review’s Our Generation Teen Council meets monthly, debating a topic of interest to teens. One member then writes a commentary on the topic, which appears on the Opinion page.

The published story called the column Your Turn instead of Teen View.