Ten Years Later

In just over a month, my ten year high school reunion is going to happen. This post will explain why I am not going and how Facebook partially caused that.

Years ago when I first joined the Facebook Empire, it was a novelty to see former classmates. A click down memory lane. Since then, as the draw of the site increased, I was in contact with more of them, and as communication opened, I found myself answering the same questions over and over again. What are you up to, what have you been doing? I hate these questions. They irritate me because I haven't achieved what I expected from myself, nor am I as close as I would like to be. Imagine trying to sell the mediocrity of my life based on an ambition that has failed me! Truly, I never know what to say.

And there are more reasons yet. I have changed a great deal since then; ideals, beliefs, character. I have been fortunate. Based solely on a few minor - and occasionally unrelated - things, I'm not sure others have. So what then do we have in common except the past? What would we talk about except for a time in my life when I wasn't happy? I don't have any interest in talking about teachers and classes and shenanigans, in seeing women that I used to crush on and men that appear differently.

I don't think I'm better than the people I graduated with, not for a moment. In the last ten years, I've learned that we are all different. That's not a negative thing, but it is a division nonetheless. Where we came from defined us less than how we came from it. I am still in contact with many people from my class, people that I have vibrant relationships with, and those people mean a great deal to me. But nostalgia be damned, my memories are good enough.