A QUEEN WHO WOULD NOT DANCE AT THE BALL

Bob Murray

To be selected queen at high school basketball homecoming and to lead the group in the first dance at the royal ball is the dream of many high school girls. But not so with Olivia Wolfe, a senior at Neosho High School and a member of the Hillcrest Church of Christ.

When Olivia was nominated to be a queen candidate, she had some misgivings because she knew that it was traditional for the queen to participate in the dance that followed the basketball game. She talking with the sponsor of the activity and told the sponsor that she had religious convictions that would not allow her to participate in the dance and that if dancing were a requirement of being elected queen, she would need to refuse the nomination. The sponsor assured Olivia that if she were elected queen, she would not be required to participate in the dance in any way.

However, word soon spread that Olivia would not participate in the dance if elected queen. When a fellow student told Olivia that her parents thought it was terrible that Olivia’s parents would not allow her to attend the dance, Olivia made it clear that the decision not to dance was based upon her own convictions and not upon orders from her parents.

Other students discussed whether they should vote for a queen candidate who would not be at the dance.

When the ballots were cast and counted, Olivia was the successful candidate. On February 23, 1998, Olivia Wolfe was crowned Neosho High School 1998 Homecoming Queen, and true to her conviction, she did not attend the dance.

Olivia is an outstanding example for others to follow--- both young and old. She was willing to give up the honor of beig queen if it required her to violate her convictions. And her experience demonstrates that it is not necessary for a person to compromise convictions and go along with the crowd. She was elected queen because of the respect her peers had for her, and - no doubt- one reason her peers had respect for her was the fact that she was a young lady of conviction, someone they could admire and be proud to claim as their homecoming queen.

We salute you, Olivia, for having the courage to stand by your convictions and to be an exceptional example to us all.

(I would not want to diminish one bit from what a Christian young lady did; however, I do have some observations that bother me. The very point of this being exceptional, first of all tells me that today it is surprising to see a Christian young person have conviction, and while that may be the case far too often, I have known of many cases of young people on their own conviction, making many right decisions based upon their own conviction, regardless of what it might cost them. Secondly, what may have been exceptional is the election of this young lady, anyway. Do not presume that logic and appreciation for moral choices always finds approval, whether it is among young people or not. Thirdly, there are good Christian young people who routinely make good choices, but who will never be king or queen of anything. That in no wise means they should not be appreciated just as well. Far too many good Christian young people live with conviction and are never noticed or appreciated for their stand. I want them to know that not only God appreciates them, and so do those who do notice.Whether one is ever noticed or appreciated in this life, however, does not matter when we are truly acting on our conviction.)