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High School Lessons

June 29th, 2011 at 01:06 pm

It is interesting that one’s high school experience can still forge one’s lifetime decisions.

For many, high school was their greatest time of life – making friends, going to dances and parties and growing up. I made friends and learned an incredible amount of the politics of society. I wasn’t in the popular crowd. I didn’t go to dances. Some of the folks who were in the popular crowd were pretty snobby. I had friends and we did things and it was OK.

I’m 50, yet I’m surprised at how some people my age are still trying to relive their high school days. Someone I work with was a wanna be, in other words, she wanted to hang with the ”in” crowd. Well, she is trying to relive this time because someone she went to school with is someone she now works with, and they are now “friends.” Yet she copies everything this person does, right or wrong, because she still wants to be what she perceives as the “in” crowd. It is kind of sad, really. This person’s “friend” is accepting of her because she is using her, not because she really likes her. How incredibly shallow. I guess everyone wants a peep or two. And this person still wants to be accepted by their “hero.”

Some folks talk about high school being the best time of their life. And I’m sure it was. It wasn’t for me, but I learned that being popular isn’t always the most important. Doing what they consider boring isn’t always boring. It is often lonely standing up for what is right. I learned that even when a school district has little money, they will save the sports program at all costs, even if it cuts into academics, and that there is a pecking order in both the student body and the faculty. I saw emotional turmoil and such hatred in those who vied for the popular status and the hollowness of those fake friendships. And one day they were friends, the next day they were back biting, venomous enemies, only to start over the vicious cycle. Yet, I saw the depth of the good people I hung with who were not considered popular – they were the ones who stood by their friends, even if it meant getting made fun of. I saw teachers fighting for what was right. There was both good and bad and so much to be learned besides what was in the textbooks.

Some of these were not fun lessons, but they were certainly life lessons.

5 Responses to “High School Lessons”

  1. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1309351734

    I agree that HS tends to have long lasting effects on how we conduct ourselves. I definitely have known some people who never seemed to develop much beyond HS.

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    1309357627

    Yup, I relate to every single word of this. Some days I still feel like people form beautiful-people cliques at work and in social circles. I'm more disdainful than hurt by it these days, but it does remind me of high school.

  3. Ima saver Says:
    1309360589

    I can relate also. I did not enjoy high school very much. I had few friends and no dates. I was the editor of the school paper and graduated 4th in my class and I spent all my time studying. When I went back to my class reunion 15 years later, I discovered that I was one of the best looking and financially comfortable people at the reunion. It is funny how time changes things!

  4. My English Castle Says:
    1309370347

    In our neighborhood there are certainly "Mom cliques."
    It's very strange to see all that HS drama replayed in middle age--and too often through their kids!

  5. LuckyRobin Says:
    1309383123

    I think it's sad when people say high school was the best years of their lives. The best years of my life have been the last twenty-one years, since I met my husband and started my family. High school can't even begin to compete with that and I had a decent high school experience with a nice circle of friends somewhere between popular and nerdy and was content with that.

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