You Haven't Changed A Bit

“You mean I looked this bad when we went to school together??”

Let’s face it, honey – we all get a bit long in the tooth as time goes by and nobody looks the same as they did in school. Some people even have their “me at 30” photo in their “dead at 80” obituary. Well, yes, they never looked as good again, but that’s not how we lived with them or what they looked like.

Which reminds me of the Assistant Principal at the Jesuit high school where I went. In the yearbook, they must have printed the photo from when he was ordained. It looked nothing like him anymore and why he kept the photo when we could see, daily, he had aged is beyond me.

Oddly enough, when people visit their colleges, they fall rather firmly on one side or another of this “change” business. Some are so happy to see the changes in the school, the new buildings and changes in the campus layout. They see the upgrades and smile as a parent smiles over a child’s growth.

Others, unfortunately, are not so happy. They seem to have taken a mental photograph of the college at that very good time of their lives, and want it to remain just the same forever. When they return, they become angry over the changes. They want the same experience, without realizing they, too, have changed.

We can dislike change only if we have not changed. Check the mirror first.