School of Friendship

Don't you long for the days when everyone in your class was your friend? As a grownup at work, you simply have colleagues; or even a young adult in university, they're still colleagues and you don't know half of your classmates' names.

What struck me as funny about school was the fact that we actually believed that we'd stay "together forever." Making all these mini-campaigns and posters and writings poems and speeches and preparing for the big day and all that, putting in mind that you will still see these people that you shared an important part of your childhood with in the future.

Maybe it's what gave us kids hope. Or, maybe believing in such a thing so strongly was due to our naivety and inexperience of the outer world. I, myself, hated high school very much. The girls who studied with me were an absolute mess, and they would always find one reason or the other to pick a fight with me, and it would sometimes even get physical. Now all that I can tolerate, in every place there's the good and there's the bad. What I mostly hated, though, was the fact that our administration system would always justify other's acts and go against yours automatically. Actually, that's not fair to say that, cause they'd just justify the acts that would benefit them as an appearance and the such.
When I went to visit it recently with one of my good friends, we both felt our self-confidences taking a downward toll. Just the atmosphere about the place, the coldness and the lack of warmth in hospitality and treatment put us back as the girls who hated to wake up for school each day, only going because it's what they should do.

Perhaps I never did care for staying "together forever" despite my ex-classmates' vain efforts to have small reunions; I'd usually ignore the invitations, would only rarely go depending on the hostess. So graduating and leaving them was never such a big deal for me, it was more like a Godsend, I'd finally get rid of them and of that dreaded environment.

I never did care for high school, but I absolutely loved my elementary stage. Everyone would share their food, help friends in need, share crayons and stand up for each other. What I mostly loved was the strong sense of patriotism we held for our class and sections, for example, grade 3B was the best grade in the whole school, better than 3A and 3C and etc. and this was especially demonstrated during the activities the school held for its students, sports day being one of them. I do long for the days when everyone in my class was my friend; I long for the fifth grade so badly...


Breaking the Chains:

"The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy."

Alfred North Whitehead