If you don’t have young children, you probably can’t appreciate the yearning to get your hands on Hannah Montana concert tickets.  Your child’s eyes burn for the chance to see her idol.  As a parent, there is little that drives you more than the burning desire of your child. 

Priscilla Ceballos did what she had to door her 6 year old daughter.  She was a good mother.  No, a great mother.  She wrote and essay, attributed it to her daughter, and won 4 tickets (and airfare) to a sold-out concert in Albany, New York.  Just the thought of going to Albany this time of year makes me shudder, but these are the things that a good mother endures for her child.

For her efforts, Priscilla Ceballos should have given the Mother of the Year Award.  Instead, she has been publicly castigated as evil by national television.  A columnist  called this a “new low,” proving that the columnist doesn’t get out much.   Even the BBC thought this was important enough to notice, because there aren’t any other world events of consequence.

Talk about a fall from grace.  She even lost the tickets.

Her downfall happened because her essay was too good.  She wrote about her daughter’s fallen daddy in Iraq.  It was a very moving essay.  It wasn’t true, but it was moving. 

There was no rule that the essay be true.  It wasn’t under oath.  Does the phrase, “creative writing” mean anything? 

Things got out of hand when the sponsor of the contest decided to take the essay one step further than expected because it was so moving.  They wanted to milk their investment for all it was worth by taking this tear-jerker essay and getting the media to elevate their contest to martyr status.  The sponsor tried to sell the essay as true, and the media didn’t play ball when it “investigated” the details. 

So instead of scoring some Hannah Montana tix for her daughter, Priscilla was hounded as a scammer for trying to pass off this fake story.  Sure, she tried to game the system.  Are people who have no “true” stories that evoke tears precluded from winning Hannah Montana tickets?  Are their children less worthy of their parents’ love and devotion? 

If they wanted a true story for their essay contest, then that should have been a requirement.  As long as any essay will do, then Priscilla Ceballos is owed an apology.  She did what she had to do to win some of the hottest kiddie tickets in the country for her little girl.  She won them fair and square.  Screw the Puritans who want to hold you to some ex post facto rule because of their self-promotional choice, Priscilla.  Your first priority is your daughter, not appeasing the media lust for a villain.  Not only did you do nothing wrong, but you did it for the love of your child.  That’s what a parent is supposed to do.