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While working online (I use “work” loosely, as I was basically surfing Facebook), a friend asked me what years people usually have their high school reunions. I wasn’t sure, but I informed them that I imagined that the first one would be five years after graduation, then every decade starting with the tenth.
Then, I realized: I never had a five-year high school reunion.
This got me thinking: it is too early to be thinking about whether or not this means that my idea of a ten-year high school reunion is gone with the wind, but is there even a point?
The main reason to have a high school reunion is to find out how those people you remember from years ago are doing. Are their lives miserable? Are you more successful? Is the prom king and queen ugly and fat now? Is that nerd rich with a gorgeous trophy wife? These are the things that every high school student DREAMS about on their graduation day. But is there a point?
With the creation of Facebook, we are able to find all of those people from high school that we desire to catch up with, just by typing in their name. We can find out what they are doing for work, where they are living, what their families look like. We can even get in touch, if we go beyond the creepy stalking without “friending”, and reignite romance, friendships or acquaintances that faded out as we went out into the wild world.
If we know all this information, what is the point of getting together every five or ten years to catch up? Instead of being “forced” into going to an event where you’re going to be forced to talk to some people you don’t want to see again, why not utilize Facebook to keep in touch with the people we DO? With Facebook, is there a point to having a high school reunion?
As I think about this, I get sad knowing that an event I looked forward to for most of my educational career is no longer needed. But as I think about if I really DID want to go to any future high school reunion, I realize that I agree with most other people and would much rather keep in touch online.
