You Haven't Changed A Bit
Reunion weekend. High school and/or college reunions are golden moments when old alumni get together and lie as only old alumni can lie. "You haven't changed a bit," someone says. To which you reply, "I looked this bad forty years ago?"
The profs were tougher then, the beer parties bigger, the antics worse and the present students have it so easy. Or so we are to believe.
The grads from classes long past who want special favors not granted to anyone, always and without fail will boastfully inform us, “I am a major donor.” We look up their record and it was $25 a quarter-century ago. True story.
Then the teachers show up, the shining lights who have been here since … well, do I hear forty years? Fifty years? They were born to be profs, they have lived their lives and will be buried as profs. Some come and teach, retire and disappear beneath the waves. Others, even if they retire at the usual age, have become part of the place to the extent they are buried from our chapel. Yes, we have people who started teaching in 1950 and are here yet, as far as I know still doing a good job.
We have students who might as well have the college seal stamped on their foreheads, they are so loyal. We see them when they are in town, we hear from them, they represent us wherever they have settled. We were a major force in their lives; some are old grads meeting even older profs.
The profs were tougher then, the beer parties bigger, the antics worse and the present students have it so easy. Or so we are to believe.
The grads from classes long past who want special favors not granted to anyone, always and without fail will boastfully inform us, “I am a major donor.” We look up their record and it was $25 a quarter-century ago. True story.
Then the teachers show up, the shining lights who have been here since … well, do I hear forty years? Fifty years? They were born to be profs, they have lived their lives and will be buried as profs. Some come and teach, retire and disappear beneath the waves. Others, even if they retire at the usual age, have become part of the place to the extent they are buried from our chapel. Yes, we have people who started teaching in 1950 and are here yet, as far as I know still doing a good job.
We have students who might as well have the college seal stamped on their foreheads, they are so loyal. We see them when they are in town, we hear from them, they represent us wherever they have settled. We were a major force in their lives; some are old grads meeting even older profs.
posted by Tom Carten at 2:25 AM
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