The video above was created by one of our classmates who compiled photos taken during the high school reunion night. The event was actually part of the town fiesta celebration. If you would like to see how I look, jump over to time stamp 5:56 up to 6:00. I’m wearing a black sleeveless dress with pleats.
Going back to what this entry is supposed to be about, I just exchanged wall messages with an old friend over Facebook. We were talking about how both of us had been very idealistic during our college years. Back then, we actually believed in the idea that we can change the world. Now, after growing up at least older and wiser, we’ve come to the realization that the world and life itself is neither as easy nor as simple as we have thought of it in the past. We now understand that we cannot change the world but we can at least change our own personal worlds.
This brings me back to that old Charles Dickens novel again. Great Expectations perfectly describes how we in our youth have great expectations in life, literally, but end up living the life which we did not expect to have when we were younger. It’s not about a story of disappointments, although the hero, Pip, had gone through all too many tragedies. It’s a story about expectations and life. Life is not based on how we expect it to become but how we live it to be.
So now, years after those little chit chats with a friend about changing the world, we have understood the world a little bit at least. We no longer wish to change anything on it per se but we can contribute something by working on our own personal lives. These little acts we do everyday when added together impacts the world even in trivial proportions.
That Michael Jackson song says it all. “I’m gonna make a change, for once in my life… I’m starting with the man in the mirror | I’m asking him to change his ways | and no message could have been any clearer | If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change…”
They say that high school is the best chapter in a person’s life. The years are still transitioning from a playful one (elementary) into a career driven one (college). These are the years where no one is bothered by neither the future nor what life brings. This is the phase where we no longer play like kids but we don’t become seriously pressured by scholastic duties yet. We enjoy everyday with not much trace of our childhood past and no sign of the worries of the future adult years.
I remember the Junior and Senior Promenade with a statement from one of our adviser years ago. He said that missing the event is like missing half of one’s life. During the recently held high school reunion, some of our classmates wrote a shout out over Facebook. They exclaimed that everyone who did not join missed a chance of a lifetime. Not that there is no more reunion in the future but this is the season when most of us have already accomplished something in life and already have kids of our own. Not to mention the fact that a PBB housemate is a classmate of ours. :)
I’m certain that many of us had great expectations back in high school. It may or may not have been realized but one thing remains true, whether we change the world or change our own worlds only, life is never the same once your past high school years.
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