My Ten Year High School Reunion

[Gus Landt]

Some of you are seriously looking into this to deeply.

I think what it is, is that many of us went through a lot of the same things you did, and we remember the pain, and occasionally have desires to 'get even'.

 

I know 100% for certain that if Columbine had happened in the 80s, I would have done the same thing. I thought every day about bringing a gun to school and killing the bullies who tormented me, and the only reason I never did was because it was something unheard of. If high school shootings had media attention 10 years sooner, there's no doubt in my mind I'd have done it too.

 

Anyway, I think many of us went through a simigh school experience. I now have a whole new feeling of brotherhood for the people of this board!

[Yoshi]

What Gus said exactly. What I noticed about the popular people back in high school, is that those were the best days of their lives, and once it was over, the reality of life sinks in. All I can say, I'm just glad that I didn't have access to full auto weapons back then.

Most of us have had mean people do cruel, sadistic things to us, but a wise man (or was it a woman?) once said that only 1% of our lives is based on what happens to us, the other 99% is how we react to it.

 

I am a firm beliver in great minds thinking alike, hence the wonderful people I've talked to on the Reaper message boards. A fantasic thing, the internet. It allows like minded people from all over the globe to chat, interact,and form friendships. It seems like most of us here are on the same wave-length and feel at home here. While we can't ever forget the terrible things people have done to us, we can forgive and move on to better things.

[Enchantra]

Well here is how it went!

 

I walked in and there were only 20 people there yet, not everyone had shown up. I walked up to the bar and a bunch of guys, some which I recognized stopped talking. Not often you see almost dead silence in a bar. They just looked at me as if they didn't recognize me. After a moment one of them must have had recognition hit and he said, "Amanda??" I nodded. The silence continued a moment longer as I came up to them. (At this point I'm thinking: Yes! I just smoked them! This is going to be to much fun - it was...)

 

I proceeded to have decent conversation with them. A few of the ones in the bunch were guys who had been decent to me in school so I had fun talking to them. Slowly people started to filter in. A lot of people just looked at me. They had no idea who I was. Between the highlights in my hair and the fact that I look thinner now than when I was in high school, I guess I shocked a few of them.

 

I was standing near the bar and one of the guys who had been nice in high school comes up and offers to buy me a drink. I politely declined and told him I cannot drink alcohol. He nodded and we chatted a bit. He ended up with my email address.

 

Several people commented on how good I looked and that I must be taking good care of myself. My best-friend from high school who I had not seen in over 10 years just about plowed me over in her high energy hug. She is just one of those people you have to love. Found out she is doing now what I had started out to originally do in college: Become a Doctor of Microbiology. We talked, I made sure she had my address and phone number.

 

Here comes the big shock of the night: I'm sitting and resting for a spell at a table since I am still sore from my surgery last week. Over comes *Shannon who was someone who was always nice to me but she always seemed very reserved and very popular to me. She takes a seat next to me and she asks me how I am doing. She proceeded to thank me for having been at school with her. I blinked. She went on and explained something to me. Apparently when I up and slapped my History teacher across the face in my Junior year because my teacher was a racist bigot who liked to tell nasty Polack jokes to my face and put me down, she wanted to stand up and cheer me on and clap. She said, "You don't know how good it made me feel to see you finally give him what he deserved." And before all of you ask, the Teacher never reported it, he knew I would have had his job for the bigotry. Her and I talked for quite a while. I told her about a lot of the things that had happened in high school to me and she shook her head. She had no knowledge of the stuff. (Alot had been reported to administration about what was going on but they kept it very quiet, obviously they didn't want people thinking the school had problems.) But she was amazed that I had turned things around in my favor. Again she thanked me, and congratulated me on being one of the people that really stood out to her. I'm still in shock.

 

So what did I discover? Out of the almost 200 people I graduated with only 80 showed. Out of that 80, About five of us, including me, had advanced degrees. Two of those were lawyers. One of the number was in medical school. The rest really shocked me. A lot of the people who had graduated in the top 30 of the class never did anything with their brains. They left highschool, and got jobs and several are married with a bevy of kids. One of the girls has five kids! I also noticed something: As a Single person, I was in the minority. Most of my classmates were attached in some manner.

 

A few really made me do a double take. They had been very smart people, active in sports, active in different clubs, graduated with honors. They have let themselves go downhill. To be blunt, they looked horrible, even acted horrible.

 

Something else I noticed was the number of people I graduated with who had some definite alcohol problems. Some arrived at the reunion already half drunk. Several seemed to never be without a large beer in their hands the entire time I was there. I kept a mental tally on one guy just for kicks. He must have had twelve beers in the space of three hours and when I left, around 11:30, he had already polished off a few more. I do hope he had a ride home. I had heard he came with someone else, I do hope it to be true.

 

One thing I also noticed is many had completely left the Rochester NY area, and had gone out of state. They mentioned how the job market for College graduates up here stinks. I'm very inclined to agree, which is why half the jobs I apply for are out of state. Why stay where there are no job opportunities?

 

Overall I enjoyed myself and I took great glee in shocking several men who did a double take when they looked at me. There is power in a little black dress.

[primeval]

I went to my 10 year reunion, got drunk, realised how stuffy everyone was (and that I never hung out with 'em anyhow) and went to the bar to pick up chicks...

 

Yeah it was a while ago now...

 

Anyways, have fun and a Merry Christmas and holiday season!

How many chicks did you pick up?

[primeval]

Good for you and have fun

 

 

 

 

I remember my 10 year very clearly, because it changed me. I was one of those people who mingled within all the social groups, but was not really a central part of any one of them. I liked it that way and would not change it. But anyway, at the ten year reunion, the lowest rung on the social ladder showed up. This was a kid who was picked on by jocks, burnouts, nerds etc. If you needed to feel better about yourself, you picked on this guy. And you can bet your last dollar someone did every single day.

 

In HS, I never gave it much thought, I don't think I picked on him, but I saw others do it and never even blinked. Well, at the reunion, I spent some time talking to the guy and I got a very small snap shot of what his life was like and it saddened me down to the very edges of my being. Here is a kid who woke up every day with dread. Fear of what people would say today, of who might punch or kick him as he went down the hall, might throw gum in his hair, spit on him, etc, etc. He talked about how he thought about suicide and killing students. We have all had days we dreaded, a day we knew we were in trouble, unprepared, nervous or whatever. Dread is very uncomfortable. I then imagined feeling that not only daily, but all day long to boot.

 

 

My 10 year reunion exposed me to something that I would never have otherwise thought about. When people talk about bullying and the "crazy" kids shooting other students, I now understand where those kids are coming from and am grateful that a tragedy did not happen at my school.

I was always kind of in the middle - I had friends in every crowd. Not really what you would call popular becuase I was pretty shy, but no one ever messed with me or picked on me because I was always one of the strongest kids in the school. But it did always bother me when I saw other kids getting picked on. I basically snapped one day in lunch when some guys were picking on a girl that was always getting teased; one of them tripped her, and I just saw red (barbarian berserk rage? ) and ran across the room and picked the kid that did it up off the floor and slammed him against the wall. I was grabbed before I could do anything more, but those guys left that girl alone, and she was grateful (even if she was a little embarassed at the moment, as she told me later).

[Bill_Adcock]

I was always kind of in the middle - I had friends in every crowd. Not really what you would call popular becuase I was pretty shy, but no one ever messed with me or picked on me because I was always one of the strongest kids in the school. But it did always bother me when I saw other kids getting picked on. I basically snapped one day in lunch when some guys were picking on a girl that was always getting teased; one of them tripped her, and I just saw red (barbarian berserk rage? ) and ran across the room and picked the kid that did it up off the floor and slammed him against the wall. I was grabbed before I could do anything more, but those guys left that girl alone, and she was grateful (even if she was a little embarassed at the moment, as she told me later).

Sounds like how I am now, in High School. Heck, that's how I found the girl I'm currently dating, although I didn't slam her tormentors against the wall. Christine's a bit plump, and a bunch of snotty girls were picking on her for it. I'm grinding my teeth, clenching and unclenching my hands as I listen to that, a red haze wavering in my vision...I go over, lean on the table the snotty girls are sitting at, and said quietly, "Yes, because everyone lusts for girls sporting the 'Starving Ethiopian' look and dressed like prostitutes. If you can't get your skin to cover your ribs, at least get a shirt that will."

[Digital [email protected]]

Well Enchantra, I am glad you had fun. I think reunions are great, but once every 10 years is enough and don't bring your spouse cause they will be bored to death.

[Kheprera]

People stopped messing with me in high school after I stood up for one girl against a gang of other girls who were threatening her. The girl was terrified. I just looked at the gang and told them to bring it on. I'd take them all on, at once.

 

I guess I sounded way too cocky and self-assured. Not only did they back down, but they left the area. Just to make certain nothing further occurred when I wasn't around, however, I promptly took her to the Dean's office and reported the incident. I never heard anything else from it again, and the girl was left alone.

 

Sure, I was still teased and picked on, but I largely ignored the whole mess. I knew I was above their petty insecurities.

 

The group I tended to hang out with was a bunch of people who did tend to be bullied and pushed around. I was more or less the protector. So long as they were around me, they were pretty safe.

 

Of course, it helped having a great uncle who was in the city administration and was close friends with one of the deans at the school.

[zaphod]

How many chicks did you pick up?

Just one... and in my drunken stupor, I even managed to knock over her full jug of Paralyzers on the dance floor... Har har...

 

Oh man, the fast paced world of a wannabe rock star

[Frankthedm]

planning really good revenge is a bad idea[tm] on a public board, try PMing people you trust [to be evil] next time.

 

Unfortunatly the quality of plastic surgery and pain meds in this day and age means you have to do a LOT of work on a person to get properly 'even' for the high school BS if you were on the lower rungs of the social ladder.

[Enchantra]

planning really good revenge is a bad idea[tm] on a public board, try PMing people you trust [to be evil] next time.

Eh..

The best revenge was seeing most of them look worse than what they did in highschool and knowing that I looked better than I did in highschool.

[Spartan6]

Living well is the best revenge.

[smittenkitten]

You guys paint a really nasty, sterotypical, cliched image of a typical American High School. And I actually thought that sort of High School environment didn't exist. Certainly not to the degree you all paint up!

 

My heart goes out to all of you who have been bullied. I'm glad to see that you haven't resorted to suicide etc. I never suffered to the degree you all did although I did experience random sprouts of foolish-teen-behaviour(yes, you really must remember that we were all just stupid kids in school who barely understood the way the world worked) from people who thought they ruled the school. It wasn't pleasant but I always knew I was better than them :p so I endured.

 

Congrats on the reunion Enchantra :D

[Froggy the Great]

Nope, this was my life too in High School. I completely and totally understand what was going on in the minds of the kids behind the Columbine incident. By the grace of God, I never went down that far, and I don't have to live that way any more.

[FuzzyIzmit]

I experienced this too, but it was at the elementary school level. You have no idea how bad it has to be to consider suicide when you are in 2nd grade... my high school was a walk in the park compared to that, not to say that this stuff didnt happen in high school (even a catholic one), I had just grown enough by then to let most of it run off me. I knew that I was a geek and a nerd, but I was (and am ) smart and kept myself on track. I knew people who cut themselves, were bullies, were bullied, were on drugs, beat up people, were bigotted...everything. I just kept those people I knew and trusted around me and made it through just fine.