Although I was hindered from attending the 50th class reunion, I was there.
When I look at my hands, I can only wonder whose they are. I am not that old, am I? And when I visit Concordia, I can wonder if I grew up there; who are these strangers walking down 6th? But when I think of my class mates, I know that the little piece of our youth that is in each of us bonds me to them.
I can only speak for myself when I say that my memory of growing up in Concordia is a pleasant memory. Since leaving Concordia, I have spoken to so many people around the world through my life who have found youth and the teenage years difficult, disturbing, confusing, and the most difficult time of their lives. I must have been oblivious to the difficulties, or just been lucky to grow up where I did.
My Concordia teachers are never forgotten. It says everything that I remember the names of each of my teachers from Kindergarten through High School graduation. I would not try that with other parts of my life, for example, I cannot remember most of my University of Kansas professors or even many of the people with whom I worked throughout the successive years.
But, of course, upon my exit from the Concordia womb, I was not prepared for what I met. I grew up with blind trust and got burned. I grew up with openness and got burned. I grew up with optimism, but have never let it go.
How difficult it was to write Since leaving Concordia; did I ever leave? I don’t know how much of what I am is Concordia, but I know it is the solid foundation which allows me to care about others, to care for others, and to love discovering the world.
I have met people different from my Concordia background, from my Kansas background, from my American way of being, from my philosophical, religious, cultural background. As I have gotten older, I have accepted and liked more people because my age, experience, and the rounding of my edges make me realize that most anyone can give me knowledge, love, culture, and horizons I have never known.
The microcosm of Concordia High Class of 60 even had variation in thought, upbringing, popularity, social circle, and individual viewpoint. And I am sure that, as a teenager, I thought the differences were big if I thought about it at all. I am so old that I tell young people that I grew up when all the trees were short. With the tall trees I know that, despite differences, I can learn from each one of my peers and enjoy their company.
So when I meet, and yearn to meet, my old classmates from Concordia High, and when I feel warmth and joy meeting and thinking about them, it is because I know we all have that little piece of youth, a little commonality, and the weathering of the world joining into a wholeness which forces me to smile with my whole soul.
Some of our teachers and classmates are dead, some still have to work, some are reaping the rewards of hard work, and some are suffering pain and bad health. Some stayed in Concordia. Many are far from this little geographic heart of America. But I know that, whoever and wherever they were or are, all of them are the Concordia in me.
You are the Concordia in me. Thank you…each of you.
I read your “something” with some interest. This is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for on the blog. I know I’m a sentimental type of person and I’m pleased to discover that there is someone else from my class with a bit of that sentimentality toward Concordia and the time in which we grew up. Maybe that sentimental attitude comes with maturity, ya’ suppose? I very much understand the sense of innocence that most of us left high school with, especially in the center of our country and in 1960. I believe there was a greater percentage of us who went off to college and there have been a lot who have gone further with advanced degrees or who have made a success of their lives. I just feel privileged to have been a part of all that.
You have done well. Completely different than what you might have predicted when you were playing the King, was it, in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court fifty some years ago. We surely had fun with our high school days, didn’t we.
I think “O” did a good job tonight of making an effort to reach out to both sides of the aisle in his speech. And I agree, we need to somehow get past all the partisan bickering/stalemate or we’ll wake up some morning and no longer be No. 1, or 2 or 3. We really need to get our priorities straightened out and in order, and all of us work toward a common goal in the area(s) that best suit each of us, whether it’s education, finance, internet skills, infrastructure or where ever we fit in. But we need to fix common goals through our leadership, get behind them and push (them) with all our collective might.
I think I already sent out a mailing with an invitation to all of the class members to blog on our site. I don’t know how to check that, but I could do it again. I would love to see more blogs and more activity. I’ll have a go at re-inviting folks. My best to you.
Taylor
I hope more people will want to comment on the idea of being kinder to each other.