School's Out...For The Summer...
Well, at least around Fort Wayne it is.
And it was kind of sad to see the kids leaving those two schools we have closing in town.
Some were mugging for the camera crews (and probably don't care all that much about the closing), while others were about as "emotional" as kids get THESE days, which doesn't come close to the emotions WE felt when we graduated high school.
It was a much kinder time back then...
(If you feel the need to put on the song MOMENTS TO REMEMBER by the Four Lads...go right ahead...I'm already humming it)
Most ALL of us were not without a tear in the eye, or at least a lump in the throat over the knowledge that we were NOT going to be returning to good old Abraham Lincoln High School (in Philly).
That school was our "home away from home" for FIVE (sometimes long) years.
Of course, that was when high schools included BOTH junior AND senior high, unlike today, where we "divvy-up" the kids through the middle-school process (which to me seemed a waste of resources).
You'd be hard-pressed to find ANY high school that goes a full five years today.
But it was that "last day" of school that reality began to set in.
We were all going in different directions after high school.
Some went to college.
Some went into the military.
Some went into the private sector as a working stiff.
I was in the latter.
I was made to realize that in order to WANT something, you had to WORK for it. Nothing "came to you out of the blue".
And certainly, no government agency was waiting at the door to HAND you anything. LBJ's "war on poverty" was still in it's infancy and what was called "public assistance" back then was budgeted at a mere $16 MILLION...for the YEAR...for the entire nation.
How times have changed.
Almost ALL of us had purchased YEARBOOKS (a true "rite of passage") and were busy getting people to sign them.
I have to say that even AFTER FORTY YEARS, the pages are NOT yellowed in any way. And those autographs from fellow students have not faded from those pages.
Teachers were a little different, because we had "formal" autograph books for THEM to sign. We did that as far back as elementary school.
Don't know if kids still do that today, but they should, and for a very good reason.
It's helps you REMEMBER. It keeps you grounded, and even a bit humble.
These were the people entrusted with YOUR education. All YOU had to do was pay the hell attention, do the work and keep your nose clean along the way. Simple enough to do, right?
Well, for damn near ALL of us...it was. The dropout and failure rate at our school back in 1970 was less than 3%, and that was a "typical" Philadelphia School System school...go figure.
Nowhere close to that today.
Must have been parental involvement that made the difference. Parents who wouldn't cut you some slack, for they wanted YOUR life to be better than THEIRS was when THEY were your age. Made sense to us.
So, we had the yearbooks signed, a lot of hugs (guys AND gals - we were comfortable with OUR sexuality a lot better in those days), and those "see you at graduation" shouts.
After graduation (we had such a large class that going on stage to get the diploma would have taken HOURS), and turning in those long, heavy, hot robes, and "flipping the tassle", it was all over and done with...
(...)
It was SUMMERTIME...and the livin' was easy (as the Broadway song goes).
I remember getting together with some buddies to ride our bicycles, play our guitars (OK, Simon & Garfunkel we weren't, but we tried), and wonder WTH we were going to do without having homework to do...or a regular place to go every weekday to learn something?
And how were we going to survive without Shepherd's Pie on Wednesdays, or enjoying those Vanilla Fudge Ice Cream bricks sandwiched between two waffles for lunch?
Some things you NEVER forget.
Not seeing Mr. DeMuro for History class, or Mr. Quinlan for Drama class, or Mr. Kuchler for Art class (to name but a few) was going to be tough to take for this newly-graduated class from Lincoln.
We were wondering what to do, because we HAD NO CLASS!
ROFLMAO!
(Had to borrow that Rodney Dangerfield line from the movie)
But we all seemed to manage. We bumped into former students in our working lives, found out some had served in the military (and survived 'Nam, somehow). We kept in touch with some (as long as we could).
Others were scattered to the four winds...rarely, if ever to be heard from since.
Some of us even RETURNED to our school the following year (to make sure the teachers we had were behaving themselves...LOL).
We met with former teachers, thanking them for what they did FOR us. We even had lunch with them in our old cafeteria (missed pizza day, darn it), and had those waffle-ice cream sandwiches one more time.
Then as quickly as it started it was over again.
Our teachers went back to teaching the NEXT round of students, and we returned to our respective endeavors in the "real" world.
Our "original" school was torn down in 2009 to build a "new" school.
It's STILL Abraham Lincoln High, but not REALLY.
And there's not that many days that pass where I don't think about my teachers, and THEIR families.
These educators made such a difference in OUR lives, and all we could do was say "thank you"...
Didn't seem quite "even-steven", if you get my drift.
But then I thought about the LIFE I've led...and the decisions I made, both good and bad.
I thought about my parents, and how proud they were of me.
I thought about everything that got me from "there" to "here".
And I suppose, in some way, the life you grow into, and the souls you touch within that life, are reward enough for many of those that chose to be someone you looked up to; someone who took the time to educate you in things which opened many doors in your life, and allowed you to walk through into a much larger world.
Life is a LOT like school, when you think about it. You pay attention, do your homework, and keep your nose clean.
And it does help to show up for "class".
May this year's graduation class find the road in life challenging enough to make them think, winding enough to get them wondering what's around the next corner, and level enough to keep their eyes fixed on their destination.
I think that's what we would wish most anyone in life, anyway, right?
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.