CHS students win hearts, praise

Forget Fight for the Fish.

If there were a Fight for the Heart competition between Coeur d'Alene and Lake City high schools, CHS would win this round.

Last Saturday night, some 250 Viking students chose as their homecoming queen and king Gayle Frechette and Taylor Tarr. Gayle and Taylor are what's known as special needs students.

Talk about special:

"I was just spilling joy," young Mr. Tarr told Press reporter Maureen Dolan. "They accept us, and we have disabilities."

Do you realize the profundity of his statement? Its potential, positive reflection not just on the wonderful students at CHS, but perhaps on an entire generation?

Looking back with shame, many of us older citizens used to make fun of special needs students or disparage them in unconscionable ways. They were different, and something about that difference threatened us, terrified us.

Over time, some of us "graduated" to feeling pity. But there's nothing really good about pity, which is entirely different from empathy and compassion. One of the great things about this prom experience and ongoing, exceedingly healthy interactions between all the students at CHS is that feeling sorry for one another isn't part of the equation, said Maureen Frechette, Gayle's mom.

"They're wonderful, wonderful kids," she said. "I think that says a lot for their parents, too."

These wonderful kids also are involved in a club at CHS called Vikings United. At least once each month, club members do something fun with special needs students, like take them to the movies - sans parental units.

Could it be that we're actually rearing generations of wonderful kids? That the unacceptable behavior today isn't how a special needs student acts, but how another student might react to that person?

Thanks for the infusion of inspiration, Coeur d'Alene High students. This Fight for the Heart award goes to you.