May, 2004:
reminders of leading-achieving

It was in high school that I discovered that being a leader-achiever held only minimal meaning for me. Until then I devoured whatever opportunities presented themselves to "serve". That meant that much of my time in junior high school was devoted to student council and various other service organizations. And these, in order to acknowledge our devotion to the cause, issued us (after we paid for them) sweaters and pins and various other paraphernalia that allowed us to stand out.

There's admitted something strange about finding a number of these so many years, and what seems to me such a different outlook on life, later. And yes, there are more than only two.


Today I view these items with a large dosage of detachment, as a sign of a misdirected youthful energy. Strangely, however (because they were in a plastic bag that I hardly knew existed?), they seem to be the only remnants of my junior high and high school years that I've saved at all. I left my yearbooks behind when I left the States, never expecting to take an interest in them again. But of course that was before the internet. Today, when a name shows up on Classmates.com that I think just maybe I remember, I can't turn to those yearbooks to match a face to the name. And to tell the truth, I'm a bit sorry I can't.


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