Darren Glaude, Seminole County Watch columnist

It is difficult to imagine anything having as much of a life-changing effect as having a baby.  As any parent will surely tell you, suddenly, your whole world becomes different. 

Your perspective changes, your focus changes, and your entire world becomes wrapped up in caring for them.  Their protection, well-being, and future immediately move to the center of your concerns.

Most of all, you want to shield them from being hurt while equipping them to take care of themselves.  Sometimes those two goals compliment one another, and sometimes they seem to conflict with one another, especially at those times when you are not exactly sure which is the more important lesson you want them to learn.

Reading about the children who are being affected by the high school rezoning issue, as well as the naming of the new high school in Oviedo, caused me to think a bit about this recently.

There are some lessons there for the kids, and some equally important for the parents as well.

Lesson number one is that right does not always make might, and that good does not always win out in the end.  No matter what the fairy tales tell us, they are only that, and not real-life illustrations.

It is not a perfect world, and the ones with the power are not always ultimately the good guys.  An impartial rendering of the high school rezoning case, in which I have no personal stake or interest, is that the School Board ran roughshod over the parents and exerted their will. 

Right or wrong, just or unjust, it does not matter.  The School Board has the power, and they used it.  Their power was not necessarily accompanied by a sense of responsibility, or the need to do the right thing.  The lesson here is that might made right, and that might is what the School Board excercised, independent of anything else.

Lesson number two is one that is likely a bit more obscure to many people, especially those whose background was not one steeped with the sense of social justice that my parents made one of the lessons learned by their children.

What has happened to the parents in Longwood and Oviedo can happen to parents anywhere.  The School Board could easily soon make another decision to rankle and outrage yet another segment of the community.  If they do, you can bet that segment of the community will respond, as have the parents in Longwood and Oviedo.

But what is even more likely is that right now, those and most parents in Seminole County could not care less about what the School Board is doing.  It would be safe to venture that prior to the rezoning and naming controversies, the parents in Longwood and Oviedo paid scant if any attention to what School Board members were doing.

So lesson number two is that we all need to be vigilant and involved at all times, being aware of what our government is doing and how our elected officials behave.  We need to care about issues in which we may not be particularly involved or affected.  We need to care because that is what participatory democracy is all about and relies upon.  

Without an informed and involved citizenry, it will be hijacked, as the parents in Longwood and Oviedo surely feel their lives have been by a School Board that disregards the parents' cares or concerns.

That leads directly to lesson number three:  our elected officials, such as those on the School Board, count on us not caring or being involved.  They make themselves safe and secure in knowing that most people do not care where they send kids to school, or what they name those schools.  They know that of the thousands of voters in Seminole County, they do not have to worry about a handful who are upset for being adversely affected by their actions.

A sublesson of number three is that they count on even those who are initially outraged to eventually get "over" it.  It is a long time between now and the next election.  By then, the decisions will be long in the past, and the effects will have become accepted as part of the routine of every day life.

That brings us to the most important lesson:  our elected officials count on us not really knowing or caring who they are.  They count on us being equally indifferent to what they do in terms of policy and decisions as members of a governmental body.

Most importantly, they count on us seeing them as a familiar name with no particular meaning behind it.  They count on us remembering them as the friendly face that came to the PTSA meeting, or helped raise pennies for the area zoo.  They count on that so when we go into the voting booth, we mark their name because it is a comfortable choice, one we may not know much about and really do not care.

Our elected officials, such as our School Board members, count on us being apathetic and indifferent to what they do and how it really affects our lives.  For the most part, we comply.  Hopefully, the lessons of the recent School Board actions will move me towards increased awareness and involvement in how my community is run, and I can pass it on to my children.  Although it can often be frustrating, I nonetheless remain grateful that my parents provided me with what is generally regarded as a different view.

Email Darren at darrenglaude@seminolecountywatch.com