I read an add that said “Connect with old classmates” and I thought it would be neat to see what everyone has done with their life.  I wondered if, or how kids changed, and if so, what did they change into.  
    I wondered if the ones that thought they were so cool,  still thought the same thing?  Did, or do they still think their so much better than the others?  And what about the ones that thought they were never good enough? Surely they realized that was never the case. 
     So I connect.  Wouldn’t you know it, I felt that I was back in school,  I was one of the unpopular ones and couldn’t believe the same old feelings came back to haunt me.  After I read so many of my classmates names, I got excited that they too were checking this Classmate thing out, and finally after all these years, we could forget the past and say, “Hey there, remember me?”  “See, after all these years you must admit your no better or worse then I was then, or am now. We’re just people now, like we were kids back then.  Good looks and parents money really had nothing to do with what we were, or are, inside.
     I started checking out their profiles and even left a few of them a note.  To my surprise only the ones that were my friend back then replyed.  After all these years, these kids that truly hurt other kids by laughing at them, or making fun of them, still, still think they are better then me.  Still wont come off the cloud they have  been riding for all these years. 
     How can this be?  I mean, after a few years out of high school, I realized that I was so much more than what these kids made me feel like.  It took some time and practice to come to understand that how I was made to feel in school, was not what it seemed.  Today, I could look any of those kids in the eye and say, “Sticks and stones might break my bones, but what you have to say will never again hurt me.” Its too bad we couldn’t convince ourselves that back then, when it really mattered. 
     While in school, I was hurt a lot.  Kids are so mean, and can cause so much hurt.  Unneeded hurt. I know that the ones that caused this pain still remember what they did and said.  Today,  I could look them all in their eyes and say,” You know what? The pain that you caused me is gone now, and  I forgive you for that.  I have come a long ways from those days.  If anything I should thank you for making me a much better person.  I can relate to the young as well as the old, and would never do what was done unto me. If anything, the way I was made to feel in school, has made me stop and think before I speak, as to not hurt someones feelings, and if by chance I have hurt someones feelings, I am quick to apologize for it. 
     I, also will go out of my way to make someone who might think they are less fortunate than myself,  feel and know that we are the same.  That it doesn’t matter if your clothes are cleaner or dirtier than mine, it doesn’t matter if I have more or less money than them, or their house is bigger and better than mine. It really doesn’t matter, none of that matters.  What matters is we are human, we are made of the same things, what should matter, is that we all should be as one.  And that is how it should be.
     So to the class of 1974 I say 3 cheers to us all.  I hope each and everyone of you  have learned through your mistakes, I pray that you teach your children the things that were not taught to you, but that you learned right from wrong by growing up with these problems.  I also pray that each one of us have learned that we are no better than the next.  And to always try to do your best in helping others that need us.  To laugh with others, no at others.  To care for others, instead of just ourselves.  To not trip someone, but to catch someone if they should trip.  To have your child or grandchild do what ever they can to make other classmates feel they are just as important as themselves. And when they become an adult, they can look back at their school years and be proud that they were what they were, as they are today.  Wonderful  human beings.