50th Year Reunion - A Reflection
Excerpt of an essay
How much better I see now that my vision has faded
I went to The Lansing Eastern Class of 1960 Reunion this past weekend expecting to see some of the kids I hung out with back in the late 50s and maybe reminisce a bit about some of the stuff that went on back then. Back then, of course, being some long lost age that seems almost prehistoric compared to the world of 2010. So we assembled, about a hundred and fifty of my classmates and myself, dragging our extremely patient mates and friends into a strange time warp in search of some meaningful connection with the past to perhaps assauage our angst a bit about growing old.
At least I think that's what it was about.
As all of the people began arriving at the reunion dinner, I was struck by the fact that I only vaguely recognized about one in ten ... and if I had run into any of those in a different context, I probably wouldn't have had a clue who even they were. Fittingly, most of the arrivals didn't know me from Adam either ...
The evening progressed into the odd ritual of people walking around looking down at name tags slung around one another's necks and then back up at their face as the spark of recognition either did or didn't appear. Hugs or handshakes generally followed the identity detection process according, I presume, to the supposed strength of the relationship each had with the other half a century ago.
During the course of the evening, I became aware that these were NOT the kids we knew in high school. It also occurred to me that out of the 500+ kids in my graduating class, I only knew about a dozen of them very well at all. I only "hung out" with those who acted like me or were interested in what I thought was interesting ... Certainly, we each knew a lot of each other's names, or recognized them at least as classmates and fellow residents of the yearbook, frozen in time with a certain look on our face ...
As the night wore on ...
People began discovering that their classmates had evolved into completely different personalities. These were folks who had led diverse, interesting and complicated lives that were almost entirely detached from the events of the mid twentieth century.
Kids we knew only by name or appearance had turned into teachers, artists, scholars, writers, athletes, inventors, developers, business persons, etc. ... [some achieved more than I ever thought them capable] and in virtually every case, parents and grandparents. They had tales to tell that were fascinating or funny or tragic or heartwarming. They shared experiences. They boasted. They appreciated. They listened. It was truly amazing.
The delight of this occasion was the discovery that so many interesting people have led so many worthy and productive lives. The misfortune of the evening is the realization that we were perhaps too focused on our personal process of discovery and evolution back then when we were 18 to realize and appreciate the potential in all those who surrounded us ...
I am sorry that 75 or more of my classmates have passed away, for now I'll never be able to honor them by hearing their story. They remain in my mind as they were then, forever young and full of hope for the future.
It was a great thrill to have spent some time with the remarkable people from the Lansing Eastern Class of 1960, albeit too brief. I don't think I can make it another half century, so maybe our next reunion will happen sooner .. at least while I still have some memory cells ...
- Tom Helderman |
