Team Esteve

So I have my 20th High School Reunion coming up and it got me to wondering why people go to those things. For the record I missed my 10th because I was in a college friend’s wedding. I do want to go, but I probably won’t. Long story, issues with communication with the organizers, blah blah. Given my choice, I would go though, but I don’t know why. With the Facebook, the Twitter, the MySpace, etc, it’s easy to find and contact people you used to know so it’s not the “I want to get in contact with old friends” reason. That may be a nice excuse, but I think at the end of the day, people really want to see if they were right.

Right about everything, right about anything. Right about what they thought they were going to be in life, right about where they thought everyone else would end up. Right that they were too good for that two bit town, right that they are so much better off having stayed put. Right that they picked the right college, the right job, the right wife, the right husband, had the right number of kids, right that they didn’t bring kids into this crazy mixed-up world.

But why is bring right so important to us? At the end of the day what does it benefit us to be right? How long does that smug sense of satisfaction last? Even if it lasts for 10 years until the next class reunion then what? You go back for the next one and re-validate yourself? Will that re-validation last 10 years the next time? How satisfying is it to prove yourself to yourself for a second time?

Personally, I’d like to go back to prove to myself how wrong I was. I’d have a safe bet that I didn’t end up the most successful person from my class or the most traveled or the coolest or the sexiest (trust me, I’m sure on that one) or the most talented or the most anything except maybe the most upper middle classiest, and maybe even the best karaoke singer, but who wants to brag about those things? I’d love to show up and help everyone else feel better about themselves. If everyone else is showing up to be right, then there has to be that guy that people can point at and say “I may not be the best but at least I’m better than THAT GUY!” I can be that guy. I WANT to be that guy. If I can make someone feel better for, maybe 10 years, then so what if someone else thinks they’re a better karaoke singer than me, or is cooler than me or better looking?

We know the truth, right? And at the end of the day that’s the important thing.

Right?

Gasucawa,
Jason