1. The Brutally Honest Truth About High School Reunions
So, you received an invitation to one of your high school reunions, and you're wondering if you should really attend it. Well, let me ask you this question. How fond are you of your high school memories? I ask you that question, because if you didn't have a very positive experience back in high school, there's no point in you attending any of your high school reunions. I mean, why dredge up bad memories by reuniting with many of the people that made your life miserable?
An influencer on YouTube who goes by the user name of ParagonJohn definitely doesn't feel that his high school days were the best times of his life. Below is his video.
YouTuber ParagonJohn Denounces Anyone Who Believes That High School Is The Best Times Of Their Life
YouTuber ParagonJohn is 27 years old. Therefore, it is quite obvious that he probably won't be attending his 10-year high school reunion next year. I'd be extremely shocked if he decided to do so.
I don't know if I can fully agree with YouTuber ParagonJohn that everyone who believes that high school was the best times of their life go on to be losers, but I do think that he has the right idea about how the caste system works in middle school and high school and how self-absorbed the people from the upper level cliques can be even after they graduate from high school.
The way I see it is if someone is from the Baby Boomer Generation or the Silent Generation, they're probably going to view their high school years as the best times of their lives inasmuch as teenagers actually treated one another with respect back in the 1950s, the 1960s, and the first part of the 1970s. If you're from the younger generations (Generation X, the Millennial Generation, and Generation Z), then you're more likely than not to want to put your memories of high school well into the past.
When all the drugs, the bullying, and other social ills found their way into teenage life, the high school experience became a much less pleasant one. For that reason, probably a number of people from the younger generations throw their invitations to their high school reunions into the wastebasket. I've been hearing stories about Millennials and Gen Zers not even organizing their high school reunions.
I graduated from high school in a class that was close to 1,000 students. Therefore, I don't think my graduating class from my high school has ever been really hurting for people to attend their high school reunions. Then again, if more than half of my graduating class decided to throw their invitations to high school reunions into the trash, nobody would really notice the difference.
If there were at least 400 people attending my next high school reunion, there would be enough heads in that same gathering to keep the party going. I don't really care one way or another, because I don't do high school reunions myself.
What it all comes down to is that some company wants to make money off of these high school reunions by sending you and your classmates invitations to them so that you'll spend money on going to these shindigs and eating the food there and drinking the liquor there. You're going to see a bunch of people that you really don't want to see ever again; and unless you're one of the big shots that was popular back in high school and you married your high school sweetheart at age 19, you're probably not going to enjoy anybody's intrusive questions about your personal life.
Never mind all the crap people shove down your throat about those who refuse to attend their high school reunions being losers. If you know you're not going to enjoy yourself at one of these things, don't go to them, period. You'll live to regret it.
I don't deny that I had some really good times back in high school, and I met some very terrific people back then. My high school days were not so bad, but they could have been better than they were.
I wasn't really a target for bullies back in high school. I got along with most of my classmates. However, the thing that I really hated about high school was always feeling as though I had to keep up certain appearances so that my peers would accept me.
I knew some classmates back in high school who really got run down by malicious gossip and bullying, and I made sure that I avoided all the traps that they put themselves into so that I wouldn't have to confront the same scary circumstances that they did. At the same time, I also have to acknowledge that there were some really screwy people in my class that I tried to avoid at all costs. If those same people said hello to me, I'd say hello back; but I would keep my distance from them.
The fact of the matter is that I really don't want to revisit my high school years. Sure, there are certain people that I wouldn't mind seeing again and having a friendly conversation with them, but the problem is that usually those people you liked back in high school don't show up for the high school reunions. At least not enough of them to warrant me wanting to attend one of those things.
In accordance with YouTuber ParagonJohn's perspective of those who peaked in high school, it's usually the classmates you never want to see again that show up at those high school reunions. My response to it is, "Why pay all that money to spend time with people you don't even want to see again?"
I'd prefer to allow my classmates to remember me the way I was when I was a teenager. Simply let the memory of who I was back when I was 17 years old remain frozen in their minds; and if these same classmates of mine want to recall what I looked like, they can look me up in their school yearbooks. They don't need to see how I may have changed in my looks.
When I was living in California, my mother kept getting a letter from some company that was trying to get a hold of me so that they could notify me of when my next high school reunion was going to be. I told her to throw it in the trash, because I was not interested; and I'll likely never be interested in going to one of those things.
If I get curious about what has become of any of my classmates, I can simply look up their information on the Internet. If they don't have a presence on the Internet, then chances are that they don't have lives that will interest me. They're probably exactly like the big shots that YouTuber ParagonJohn described in his video above from his graduating class, and they never amounted to much of anything that would grab my curiosity.
2. Big Shots From High School As Potential "Predator" Catchers And Online Vigilantes
It's interesting that YouTuber ParagonJohn claims in his video above that anyone in his class that states that they thought that high school was the best time of their life are people that peaked in high school and became societal degenerates in their adulthood, because I remember once watching a video on YouTube in which this one influencer stated that he believed that most "predator" catchers and online vigilantes were people that peaked in high school. It makes perfect sense.
When I was once watching one of those "predator" catcher videos on YouTube, one of them told a suspect in an online sex-sting operation that he had a 15-year-old girlfriend back when he was 15 years old. It's very clear that these idiots going around, thinking that they're superheroes, were the big shots back in high school that had girlfriends from the time they were in the sixth grade; and they don't want any outsiders, so to speak, invading their elitist kingdom of popularity in the form of underage teenage girlfriends.
In other words, these jerks who call themselves "predator" catchers only want middle-school and high-school girls dating popular boys the same age as them rather than the older dudes that never got that one teenage-girlfriend experience in their younger years, because they don't want anyone outside their own little make-believe world of age-appropriate perfection and wholesome purity to be happy.
Norman Michael Achin accuses these "predator" catchers and online vigilantes of being pushy punks from the bottom of the intellectual barrel in terms of their lack of dignity who can't find real jobs. Although I agree with Mr. Achin, I also view these individuals as domestic terrorists that are looking for inventive ways to overpower others that may not buy into all their puritanical propaganda.
Speaking of Mr. Achin, he recently released a video that provides advice to anyone who falls prey to these "predator" catchers and online vigilantes. His video is below.
Norman Michael Achin Gives Good Advice On How To Deal With Harassment From Online Vigilantes And "Predator" Catchers
These online vigilantes and "predator" catchers are dangerous people, and nobody should ever trust any of them for any reason. My response to their existence is, "Once a domestic terrorist always a domestic terrorist." Mr. Achin and YouTuber ParagonJohn could easily figure out these online vigilantes and "predator" catchers if they were to put their heads together to analyze the bigger picture.
If YouTuber ParagonJohn was a football player back in high school, I wonder who these classmates of his were that bullied him. Back when I was in high school, anybody who tried to pick on a football player on our school's varsity football team definitely had a death wish.
Come to think of it, I did know a boy named Tim back in high school who had a propensity to bark up the wrong tree any time he was looking to pick a fight. He was a wimpy, little twirp himself, so I don't understand what he thought he would gain in doing so. Some people are their own worst enemy, and he was no exception to that same rule.
3. Final Thoughts
If you liked high school and you cherish your memories of it, then I wish you all the kudos in the world. Chances are that you're probably either from the Baby Boomer Generation or the Silent Generation in that event.
Otherwise, if you don't have very fond memories of high school, then you're probably from Generation X or one of the younger generations. If you feel that way, then you're not alone.
As far as I'm concerned, high school reunions are nothing but fashion shows where all the big shots from high school boast and posture about their kids and their boring lives. At least for the younger generations, they are. If you weren't from one of the upper level cliques during your teenage years, then you're probably not going to enjoy your high school reunion, unless, that is, you either went on to be a movie star or a stockbroker on Wall Street after you graduated.
I've been seeing YouTube videos from a number of people that claim that they finally attended one of their high school reunions and would probably never do it again. Comments like those should tell you something about high school reunions. You shouldn't waste your time on them. In any event, below is one such video.
YouTuber The Semi-Retired Samurai Describes His Experience At His High School Reunion
Although I don't completely agree with YouTuber ParagonJohn about people that have purely fond memories of high school now being losers, I do still find a great amount of logic to his observations about such people. If many of them are becoming "predator" catchers and online vigilantes instead of getting real jobs, they can't be the brightest bulbs in the bunch. If they're into cornering people in online sex-sting operations, they're nothing but domestic terrorists in any event.
As far as I'm concerned, high school reunions are mainly for all the prom kings and prima donnas you knew during your teenage years. The smarter ones like me choose never to look back, because our yesteryears are long gone. I'm focused on the here and now as well as on what tomorrow will bring me. It makes my life simple and sensible.
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