This is not the era of our youth. These are different times. This is not the era when sending a letter or postcard through the mail was the only other way to communicate personally with someone besides calling them on the telephone.
This is a time where we can suffer the same ridicule, taunts, and humiliation all right from the comfort of our own computer!
Nobody can hide any more. Nowadays, someone somewhere knows where everybody is. if we don't know, someone we know does. If we choose to, we can even pay a little money for the privilege of being able to access the personal data of anyone we want.
So do we really need reunions any more?
Friends that are tight already know everything that's going on in each others' lives. Why should they want to spend the time, money, and energy to meet up with people they could really care less about? Just to see how fat they have gotten or how much hair they've lost?
Facebook provides us with all the info we need to keep the current distance between acquaintances at a comfortable level. If you want to trade pictures of your families it's a snap. You want to chat with each other live? It's there too. You want to brag, preach, be inquisitive, or lurk in the shadows? You can.
If email and Facebook aren't enough, there's Skype. Who could have imagined back when we were in school that we'd be able to video chat with someone anywhere, anytime?
Well we can, so why do we still need reunions?
Oh wait--I know--it's so we can yell ourselves hoarse trying to make ourselves heard in a bar that has horrible acoustics. Oh, it's also so the women that are upstanding citizens and doting mothers can be hit on and leered at by newly-single guys with Corvettes and Viagra. Oh, it's so we can be reminded that some people never will learn to drink responsibly.
Oh, yeah--all those things. Who needs reunions these days anyway?
Okay, there are good things about reunions. I think my favorite part (although sad) of my 30-year reunion was the video montage someone made that showed all the classmates that were no longer with us. Sadly, it played quite a while, and was punctuated with gasps and other sounds of sad realization. There are also the anecdotes of current lives and past adventures to share. I liked overhearing people explaining about how they got so far in life or why they didn't. It's also funny to watch how much some people never change--they still can't stop doing the one-upmanship.
[sigh] Sure, I'll probably go to the next reunion. I guess I can't resist. What I doubt I will do any more though, is go to the more localized get-togethers or mini-reunions that tend to pop up from time to time. They are too loud for me to talk to anyone. I hate that. My voice can't take it and I always have to leave early and frustrated because of it.
No, we don't need high school reunions these days. The trouble is, they're like a train wreck or a building fire--we can't resist looking to see how bad someone looks or who didn't make it.
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