One of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about the website Facebook.com is the ability to literally relive your youth. You can post pictures, and people do, of any part of your life. When the photos are of your youth it obviously rattles the memories of a great number of people. People are posting things from when they were in elementary school and these are, I believe, the coolest pics of all.
I love seeing those pictures of folks from their early years. The best ones of all are the class pictures. You can look at some of these from, say, first or second grade and just have a field day trying to identify everyone. Once you’ve identified these folks when they were kids the real fun begins. That’s when a couple things can take place.
The first is the obvious. Whatever happened to so and so? You see the kid that was the most popular kid in school and wonder. You also see the kids that were the freaks. You know, the ones that were different from the rest, the weirdo’s. With the availability of information that one has today you can find out about many of these kids. It’s pretty interesting to see how some have ended up. I won’t mention any names here but there was a kid that everyone in my school knew that, I’m sorry, but was just a freak. Major nerd. I remember kids, and I’m sure I was guilty of this too, making fun of him and picking on him on a regular basis. Well, someone sent me a link that showed me whatever happened to this major geek. He’s an executive for a major firm on out of New York and is obviously doing quite well. Look who’s having the last laugh now? Good for him.
The other side of those that you no longer know are the kids you are in contact with today. I’ve mentioned before of the friends from school I’m now in contact with. Seeing their pictures from our youth is also very satisfying. It’s pretty cool to see them as you remembered from way back when. I like to see the pics and try to remember what I thought of them back then and see how it compares to the way I see them now. It’s really something to see that one girl who was, at least to me, the prettiest girl in school and finding that, after all these years, she’s just as beautiful both on the inside and out. There’s also the girl that I was never close to but always liked. Met her right after I moved to Oak Park. As with everyone else I’m talking about we hadn’t spoken to each other in almost 30 years. Seeing her picture from back then and remembering the laughs we had, it’s no wonder that she’s now become someone who is easily one of my dearest friends.
Of course some of the kids didn’t fare as well as others, I do have some friends from back then who are no longer with us so the only memory I have is that of them as kids. I think that’s a good thing. Kids are always much cooler than adults.
3 comments:
I'm with you on this Kevin. I sent you that link because it shocked me too - I always expected that he would climb a bell tower and rain bullets down on the innocent as revenge for the torture school must have been for him. You just never know. Good for him!
Some people get trapped by their pasts, and others escape it. And of course, there are those that have an ideal upbringing and throw it away, while others capitalize on being born into the right situation. The bottom line is you write your own ticket in this world, so be the master of your destiny.
I also was in that little conversation with the link sent to me-but what I must add is that I had recently seen his parents at a public gathering, and I boldly approached them and reintroduced myself-as I attended all three schools with their son. I asked how this classmate was and where he was living, instead of responding with great joy and pride that their son was an executive at a high ranking company, they quickly turned their conversation towards his younger sibling. Without having all the facts of his family life it seems to me that he is luck to have moved away from his past and recreate himself and hopefully a wonderful life.
what do you call a geek 5 years after high school?
"BOSS"
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