Yearbooks Are Depressing

[Thy Geekdom Come]

The high school where I work just released the yearbooks and one of my brightest students chose the following quote:

"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist."
[right]-Friedrich Nietzsche[/right]

[zunshynn]

Maybe it was a joke.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='zunshynn' date='12 April 2010 - 04:31 PM' timestamp='1271104307' post='2091782']
Maybe it was a joke.
[/quote]
Nope. He's bright, but I've caught him reading Nietzsche, Sartre, and Rand before.

I tried to dialogue with him using personalism and such, but he only seemed interested in the philosophies that were atheistic.

[Nihil Obstat]

My yearbook was depressing too. I was on Student Council all year and worked really hard, but by a skillful bit of manipulation, I missed the only group photo that was taken of us all year. The strange cabal of a yearbook committee apparently didn't look at our official list, and didn't even have me as "missing" in the student council section of the yearbook.

In twenty years I may not even remember I was there.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Truth be told, I don't really care much about my own yearbook. I don't even think I know where it is. Out of 2300 students, only a handful were ever consistently friendly to me, and out of them, I think I'd say I'm close with 0. Sure, we comment on each other's statuses a couple times a year on facebook, but they're not part of my life, nor do I have any desire to return to my high school and impress anyone.

My middle school classmates, on the other hand, I might want to impress. I left there with a handful of "friends" who ceased communicating with me as soon as we graduated (and they'd specifically avoid talking to me). Most of them brag about getting drunk and doing things they shouldn't be doing on facebook, so I'd love to show up to that reunion with a gorgeous wife and photos of my two great kids. Alas, I'm pretty sure they already had a reunion...and I wasn't invited.

[Lilllabettt]

My yearbook quote was:

"Strength in this life. Happiness in the next."


which is fairly dark, huh.

Fast forward 5 years or so ... I'm watching Oliver Stone's "Nixon." And he has Nixon's mother, Hannah, tell little 9 year old Johnsonville brat:

"Strength in this life, Richard. Happiness in the next."

Creepy huh?

[Hassan]

[quote name='Raphael' date='12 April 2010 - 04:46 PM' timestamp='1271105196' post='2091806']
Most of them brag about getting drunk and doing things they shouldn't be doing on facebook, so I'd love to show up to that reunion with a gorgeous wife and photos of my two great kids. Alas, I'm pretty sure they already had a reunion...and I wasn't invited.
[/quote]

So? At the end of the day you're how ever old you are (like late 20's early 30's) and you have a wife you love and two kids and they have bragging about getting sloshed on Facebook (around here most people who do that get made fun of, no offense to them).

I love drinking. But if all I had to show for my life in five years or whatever was that I could get "totally smashed lolz!" and brag about it on !facebook! I'd probably be kind of sad.

Edited April 12, 2010 by Hassan

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' date='12 April 2010 - 03:34 PM' timestamp='1271104450' post='2091788']
My yearbook was depressing too. I was on Student Council all year and worked really hard, but by a skillful bit of manipulation, I missed the only group photo that was taken of us all year. The strange cabal of a yearbook committee apparently didn't look at our official list, and didn't even have me as "missing" in the student council section of the yearbook.
[/quote]

At my high school, Stuco is just a Party Planning Committee.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Hassan' date='12 April 2010 - 04:54 PM' timestamp='1271105656' post='2091812']
So? At the end of the day you're how ever old you are (like late 20's early 30's) and you have a wife you love and two kids and they have bragging about getting sloshed and bragging about it on Facebook.

I love drinking. But if all I had to show for my life in five years or whatever was that I could get "totally smashed lolz!" and brag about it on !facebook! I'd probably be kind of sad.
[/quote]
Oh, don't get me wrong, I know it's a stupid desire and they probably wouldn't care. I suppose it might make a few of them think, but it's mostly pride, so I should probably let it go, lol.

For what it's worth, I found out about a handful of those classmates in college or after: one is a devout Catholic teaching at our old high school, one is a young married devout Catholic, and one is now a missionary with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. That pleases me.

[Hassan]

[quote name='Raphael' date='12 April 2010 - 04:58 PM' timestamp='1271105932' post='2091817']
I know it's a stupid desire and they probably wouldn't care.
[/quote]


Only if they really don't have perspective. I know we butt heads sometimes but from what I've seen you seem like a good father. I like partying. I have a lot of friends in real life. I have a lot of fun. It's great for college and like grad school and that sort of interim period between school and the real real world. But if in five to ten years I had to choose between where you are at and where those friends you want to make jealous are at, I'd easily pick where you're at.

Going out, getting drunk, meeting new people, having funny drunk stories to tell the next day, that's all great for a certain period of life, but it doesn't stack up with having a family and solid direction in life.

I think you definitely have the better deal, for whatever it's worth.

[CatherineM]

We didn't get quotes in my yearbooks. We barely had color photos back then.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='Raphael' date='12 April 2010 - 03:30 PM' timestamp='1271104246' post='2091777']
The high school where I work just released the yearbooks and one of my brightest students chose the following quote:

"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist."
[right]-Friedrich Nietzsche[/right]

[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/weep.gif[/img]
[/quote]

[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/console.gif[/img] 18-year olds may think they are wise, but we all were 18 once and probably look back at that time with mixed feelings.
(I certainly do!)

An 18-year old is just on the brink of becoming semi-independent and going to college, and a yearbook quote like this could be a way of expressing his independence or "showing off" to his peers.

The good news is that I, and I'm sure others, have seen a lot of 18-year olds who express a very different philosophy of life at 30 than they did when they were 18.

I know that it must hurt a lot that one of your pupils would feel this way, but, God willing, he has many years to experience more of life and grow in wisdom.

Edited April 12, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[zunshynn]

[quote name='CatherineM' date='12 April 2010 - 03:16 PM' timestamp='1271107001' post='2091836']
We didn't get quotes in my yearbooks. We barely had color photos back then.
[/quote]

It probably would have been very time-consuming to carve all of the quotes into stone.

My classmates from high school are really big on everyone being facebook friends, but that's it... most of them don't ever actually keep in touch... some do comment here and there on each others statuses.

I was really gung ho about yearbooks when I was in high school... but I'm not even really sure why... I wasn't really popular, and didn't really get involved with alot that I would be pictured in. I don't really look at them anymore, although when I do, I look at like... EVERYTHING. That's probably the archivist in me. I have kept in touch with a small group of close friends, and I do pay attention to other people's statuses, but haven't really talked to many.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='CatherineM' date='12 April 2010 - 04:16 PM' timestamp='1271107001' post='2091836']
We didn't get quotes in my yearbooks. We barely had color photos back then.
[/quote]

LOL We didn't have quotes in my yearbook either, thank goodness. I have a feeling I'd be embarassed today at my 18-year old's "wisdom."

We had some color photos in my yearbook, but our senior pictures were in black and white. Thank goodness they left the dinosaurs that freely roamed the campus out of the candid shots.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='12 April 2010 - 03:54 PM' timestamp='1271105693' post='2091813']
At my high school, Stuco is just a Party Planning Committee.
[/quote]
We did a bit of that, but we also organized charity drives, and there was usually crossover (like our dodgeball tournament that supported the Right To Play foundation). Then we did a few things that aren't really either category... we set up a parallel mock election through Elections Canada to go side by side with the actual federal election, that kind of stuff.