50th High School Reunion

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I had spent the weekend at my 50^th high school class reunion.

It was both enjoyable and revelatory.

When you see some of the mates you’ve not seen in half a century or even when you have interacted with them at other reunions it is always a surprise at how they’ve change. How you have changed. Seeing old and long time companions in their current shells opens a window into the internal video of your life and choices.

Subliminally it is even more of a surprise at how you have changed. We all tend to look in a mirror and see ourselves as older, but not changed. I think it is a psychological alteration of our self-image. I am hoping that within each of us is our youthful spirit and in that embracement we see ourselves as perennially young.

I was delighted in the accomplishments of my former mates and proud to still call them friends. I do not know what trials they endured these fifty years or what tribulations came their way. I do know from the experience of the weekend that the essence of their being and mine has not changed one iota.

We live in an itinerate society today that takes us away from the daily interaction of childhood chums and pals. Jobs and circumstances take us to far off places. Choice often keeps us mired in place. Opportunity holds us to limited choices and fear of change sometimes keeps us sedentary.

This is not a truth that only exists in America. It is endemic to the global cultural communities and also to the tribal gatherings of family and beliefs systems that hold together in the illusion of form and matter.

I had the opportunity to speak to my old mates and friends and tomorrow I will share some of my vocal observations of the half-century.