I was informed by a friend that someone I went to high school with made national news after getting kicked out of a Trump rally in Minneapolis. It made me consider the hundreds of people I no longer know much about since I left high school, and how many different paths they’ve gone on. The news of this particular classmate of mine was hilarious, and largely in character based on what I knew of them. However, seeing them in the context of the real world and not just talking to them adds a different, more intriguing element to it.
We live in an interesting time where it is largely possible to keep up with a massive number of people to some extent (at least the parts of them they are willing to share on the internet, for better or worse). You come across people you know in unexpected places, and see more snapshots of a life than has been possible until the most recent ten years or so. With regards to this specific part of social media, I don’t have particularly strong feelings. I personally enjoy seeing the whereabouts and major events of the well-adjusted people I was friendly with in school, but wouldn’t necessarily keep in direct contact with afterward. It provides me with a positive feeling for them. I can silently root for them, and assume that a few moments of thoughts are similarly directed at me from time to time.
I also know I had the privilege to go to an excellent high school with some absolutely amazing peers. I have no doubt I’ll continue to see others show up in the news every so often. It’s exciting to see what interests were developed or maintained, to get a glimpse of how people have grown since I last saw them. And, if I’m lucky, I may get one degree closer to Kevin Bacon. Or if I’m really lucky, Erdos.