Reunions: the bare facts.

"Having a wee bit of fun 1984 style"

Have you ever wondered what happened to all those people you once knew in High School? Those friends or enemies of an age long since past? You would not be completely alone if you did, for it seems much of the hype behind High School reunions is couched in such curiosity. Every year millions of Alumni across the nation get together for trips down “memory lane” accompanied by cheap food, weak drinks, and small talk.  Some travel across the country in eager anticipation of seeing some of those persons who were once called friends. I am a little baffled over this phenomena as the question of “where are they now?” never poses any difficulty, as I can honestly state “I really don’t care.”

I say this not out of anger or contempt, but from a purely practical point of view, for if I really wanted to know what a classmate has done with his/her life I think I would have made an effort to contact them by now. So too would I expect the same, and if some former school mate of mine does not have the wherewithal to understand this simple concept then no amount of small talk will ever overcome their lack of intelligence.

I sure enough wouldn’t sit and wait twenty five years to say; “hey how have you been?”

“Oh pretty good Al, except I could’ve used your help ten years back while I was being raped in prison”.

“Yeah, sorry I couldn’t be there for you. Did you see Jeanie? Man did she get fat or what?”

To be completely honest it is not so much curiosity that spurs people on to these events but a desire to measure one’s life. In essence, to see who has succeeded and who has failed. Ask anyone who has gone to a reunion and they will quickly be able to point out not only how far down the social ladder the captain of the football team has fallen, but do so with a self-satisfied smile upon their face. For that is the crux of the matter. You can wrap it up in any feel good packaging you want, and pretend that the balding middle aged man across the room is your dear friend, though you don’t even know where he lives. But, more importantly, you can sit back and take pleasure in the fact that the same man was once the school Casanova, the desire of so many teen aged girl crushes, yet is now marked by age and rather a mere shadow of his former self.

Or on the opposite track you may find yourself bypassing all the supposed “winners” from High School with your own achievements. Now that is an experience worth shooting for isn’t it? Travelling hundreds if not thousands of miles to stand in a gymnasium and strut before strangers who barely remember your name and don’t really care whether or not if you live or die. I cannot help but think “How utterly futile and stupid”. Will such a moment produce a lasting positive effect on your life? I doubt any pleasure derived from such an act would persist beyond waking the following morning. If it does well then, I am sorry, for your current circumstance must be rather dull and unhappy.

For me I have no desire to dig up the ghosts of the past, there’s no upside to it. Neither do I feel the need to unzip my pants and measure the length of my manhood. I already know how much larger it is than all of those who need the reassurance of reunions to give them self-confidence.

Cheer up though, it's Friday.

Allen R. Butler