Today, however, I got a call that was pleasantly surprising. It was a high school classmate. Seems that our reunion is coming up next year and he is looking up friends to get them caught up on the party. It was good to talk to him and I look forward to the reunion.
After the call I started to remember back to the old high school days. Friends, events, football games, trips, skipping school, pep rallies, and pranks. I was not a popular person at the start of high school, a nerd really, but I had the good fortune of signing up for a debate class, and there I met my best friend for the rest of my time in school. We did everything together. He was in the cool crowd, and by association, I got to at least hang around some of the "in" kids. I miss this friend, a lot when I let myself think about it. He was good for me.
What I really wanted to write about is this idea of being popular. I heard it a lot during those years. Who is popular and who is not. Cheerleaders (see my other posts), jocks, class clown, head bangers, those with money, etc. all vying for a place on the popularity scale. It seemed so important to a lot of the kids. Some were obsessed with moving up the scale. I am not sure why I didn't worry about it that much. Perhaps it was because I thought I never had a chance to get very far up the ladder. I like to think it was because I had loftier values or ideals, or that I knew it wouldn't always matter. Maybe I just didn't care.
It is funny looking back now. I haven't heard the word popular in twenty years, not in the terms like I did in high school. It is a nonissue in real life, yet we were so concerned with it back then. I suppose that every teenager is. They are worried about fitting in. I have one teen now and five more that will be there soon enough. I do take the time to try and assure them that their value as a person is derived from other things than that of being popular.
I have been told that I am a bit "different". I think they are sugar coating it for my benefit. I don't know anyone that is concerned with being popular. Not at my church, my work, non of my friends. What happened. Did I leave that world behind? Does that world still exist, outside of high school? Not for me it doesn't, and good riddance. I don't feel a loss in any way. Quite the opposite. There are too many important things to concern ourselves with besides popularity.
I do suppose that those people obsessed with it are still out there. It reminds me of the recent presidential election. It has turned into a popularity contest. They were never intended to be, and that is one of the reasons we we set up as a republic and not true democracy. Imagine the most popular person in your high school being president. WOW. Not so appealing.
I guess that another group that couldn't let it go are the hollywood types. Just look at the magazines on the rack in the check out line. Remind you of anything? Who is doing what and with whom? What did she say about her hair/dress? Did she steal him from her? And we are eaten up with worry over what happens to these people. What a load of hooey. We are more worried about who will win American Idol (I watch it) than what will happen when the next Supreme Court Justice retires, or where the tax rate will end up come January. I can't stand the hollywood/music/tv attitudes and view of life. But what I can't stomach even more is that we care so much. What have we become as a people?
El Toro Negro
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