High School Yearbooks

Cleaning out our storage building as we anticipate relocating soon, I came across my old high school yearbooks. Surprised they were there due to my thinking they had been discarded, I glanced through them with vague interest. I recall walking around asking friends and even those I did not know well to sign them. Girls tended to write long, sweet, and somewhat personal notes while boys would sign only or perhaps offer some pithy saying meant to be philosophically profound. Sadly, I remembered very few of the people in the yearbook and as I glanced at the pictures of teams, organizations, campus events, teachers, and other students, none of it meant anything to me. Other than the emotion that I did not have to relive my high school years again, I wondered why we have yearbooks at all.

Not that it wasn't fun to see my friends of those years looking thin, healthy, vibrant, eager to conquer the world that awaits them. Seeing faces from the past and looking at all the groups made me a little nostalgic but not for high school but more out of curiosity about the people. Careers? Family? Health? Location? I do hope the best for everyone and I hope life has been great for them. I myself had a great time singing in choir, playing in band, playing chess on the chess club, staying active in church, playing sports rather averagely, hiking, camping, fishing, and dancing very poorly.

I suppose yearbooks provide a historical record and memories of the past. But there is a danger they pose as well. High school seen as a chapter in the extensive book of living is the correct perspective and yearbooks provide that very chapter. Activities aside, it is the people that made a profound difference in those years and it is the people that continue to impact our lives in so many significant ways. But a yearbook seen in terms of the activities has little value other than to provide good or sometimes bad memories of successes or disappointments during the the high school years. Because we all need affirmation occasionally, it is agreeably beneficial to reflect on the successful activities of the past. And, further, because we all learn from failure, it is also agreeably beneficial to take a few moments to examine the events where success was but a dream and the life lesson came later.

The danger comes in relying on the past as the primary mirror of one's life accomplishments. I have an acquaintance who was a highly regarded and recognized football player in high school. He was fast, strong, and led his team to victories while earning individual medals for his athletic prowess. It was a high time in his life, but unfortunately he had trouble moving forward from there. 40 years later he admitted that he remembers the glory days but noted that his medals now reside in a trunk unseen, neglected, and no longer valued. Did his past shape his future in a positive way or did it define him and ultimately hurt him?

Reflecting further on high school, I realize those were great times (most of the time) and I am happy to have a record of the past. But for me, I choose to avoid the trappings of living in the past, and, instead, I insist on a life that progresses forward. Smiling at the yearbooks, enjoying the moment, thinking of the people and the activities of high school, I shut the books, box them up, and shrug off yesterday. It is today that counts and it is for tomorrow that I plan. Goodbye yearbooks, thanks for the moments of reflection.