When I was eighteen, my summer job was with Project Headstart. We went to DC for a training session, and did some sightseeing during our free time. I developed a blister so I took my shoes off at Arlington and walked around barefoot. As we approached Kennedy's eternal flame, the young soldier on duty came up to me and said, Miss, you need to put your shoes on. You're showing a lack of respect.
Certain venues, regardless of how one may feel about the individual presiding or the activity within, have standards. Dress codes seem perfectly acceptable to me. The misdemeanor charge may have been over the top, but this is not the venue for adolescent protest behavior, imo. If they actually asked the other woman in a Support the Troops t-shirt to leave also, it was at least non-discriminatory. This speech is not the time for disruption, but a time to listen and consider.
There are many places to protest (as Sheehan has certainly proved) and it doesn't bother me that the SOTU isn't one of them. If some people don't have some sense of mature, acceptable, respectful behavior, and when it is required, then we need to protect the rest of us from their disruption at times. She can wear her t-shirt seven days a week if she likes- but this just seemed really inappropriate to me. |
