Celebrating High School Friendships
By Brother Rogers
One of the joys of being an adult is that we can pick and choose our friends. We also can see our friends as often or as seldom as we want.
We usually select friends who are like us or with whom we have something in common. We make friends at work with those who understand our job. We easily find friends at church. We particularly like those people who root for our favorite teams. We think those people who agree with us politically are really smart and especially deserving of friendship. If we agree on religion, sports and politics, then it’s hard not to be friends.
Do you remember that time in your life when you could not be as selective about your friends but instead were lumped into a large group in what seemed like a Darwinian survival of the fittest? Of course, it was called high school.
This summer I attended my 30th reunion of the Brandon High School Class of 1983. There wasn’t much dancing, and those few of us who tried provided entertainment for the rest.
High school is a special time in everyone’s life. It’s the people that make it special. In high school, we form relationships that last for a lifetime. But high school friends are different than friends we make as adults. Our high school friends are not just like us.
What’s great about high school is the diversity of people you get to know. In high school, we’re all thrown in there together. After 30 years, we are not all interested in the same things. We don’t all live in the same place. In fact, as many live outside of Mississippi as live here.
We don’t root for the same sports teams. Some are diehard Ole Miss fans. Some are big Bulldog fans. Some of my friends reminded me that before I attended Alabama, I was among those most thrilled to see State 6, Bama 3.
Certainly, our high school friends don’t all belong to the same religious denomination, and their political views run the gamut from left to right. But what’s great about high school friends is that none of those differences matter.
We have something in common that trumps everything else. We have years of shared experience. We have years of growing up together. That means no matter how much time passes, we always can reunite and have that instant closeness that only comes from the shared experience of growing up together. That’s what makes high school friends special.
Many of us have wrestled with difficult issues in life: divorce, illness, or the death of a loved one. Sometimes it’s our high school friends who can help us get over the hump. They can provide a sense of comfort, a sense of place and a sense of belonging. They knew us “back when” and can help us get back to our old self again.
My son Andrew is entering his senior year at Starkville High School. I have told him it will be one of the most memorable, fun years of his life. He will soon go off to college and later get to choose his friends. But these are the good old days for him – the days before everyone is scattered to the four corners of the earth doing their own thing. It is a time when the mundane daily life of shared experience with different people is forming strong bonds of friendship that will last a lifetime. Vive la difference!
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and works at the Stennis Center for Public Service.
One of the joys of being an adult is that we can pick and choose our friends. We also can see our friends as often or as seldom as we want.
We usually select friends who are like us or with whom we have something in common. We make friends at work with those who understand our job. We easily find friends at church. We particularly like those people who root for our favorite teams. We think those people who agree with us politically are really smart and especially deserving of friendship. If we agree on religion, sports and politics, then it’s hard not to be friends.
Do you remember that time in your life when you could not be as selective about your friends but instead were lumped into a large group in what seemed like a Darwinian survival of the fittest? Of course, it was called high school.
This summer I attended my 30th reunion of the Brandon High School Class of 1983. There wasn’t much dancing, and those few of us who tried provided entertainment for the rest.
High school is a special time in everyone’s life. It’s the people that make it special. In high school, we form relationships that last for a lifetime. But high school friends are different than friends we make as adults. Our high school friends are not just like us.
What’s great about high school is the diversity of people you get to know. In high school, we’re all thrown in there together. After 30 years, we are not all interested in the same things. We don’t all live in the same place. In fact, as many live outside of Mississippi as live here.
We don’t root for the same sports teams. Some are diehard Ole Miss fans. Some are big Bulldog fans. Some of my friends reminded me that before I attended Alabama, I was among those most thrilled to see State 6, Bama 3.
Certainly, our high school friends don’t all belong to the same religious denomination, and their political views run the gamut from left to right. But what’s great about high school friends is that none of those differences matter.
We have something in common that trumps everything else. We have years of shared experience. We have years of growing up together. That means no matter how much time passes, we always can reunite and have that instant closeness that only comes from the shared experience of growing up together. That’s what makes high school friends special.
Many of us have wrestled with difficult issues in life: divorce, illness, or the death of a loved one. Sometimes it’s our high school friends who can help us get over the hump. They can provide a sense of comfort, a sense of place and a sense of belonging. They knew us “back when” and can help us get back to our old self again.
My son Andrew is entering his senior year at Starkville High School. I have told him it will be one of the most memorable, fun years of his life. He will soon go off to college and later get to choose his friends. But these are the good old days for him – the days before everyone is scattered to the four corners of the earth doing their own thing. It is a time when the mundane daily life of shared experience with different people is forming strong bonds of friendship that will last a lifetime. Vive la difference!
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and works at the Stennis Center for Public Service.