Getting Back Together

UP AND COMING is my forty five year high school class reunion of the class of seventy three, go eagles, valiant, and strong. I loved the ten and twenty year reunions, after that, not so much, as my interest waned, and continues to. Been there, done that. I am interested in my classmates children, but not their grandchildren. By the time their great grand children arrive, I should be dead. A few of my best high school buds have been, I sense, made at me for several years now. Its all about politics, and had to do with Obama, left versus right, that sort of thing. Hell, we haven't even spoken since Trump was elected; if they support him, we're done, for good. they were already dumb enough.(lol) Stay mad at me for more than ten minutes, its a grudge, and I don't do grudges. I laugh at, then ignore them. At our age, you'd think we'd know better, but we don't; we "mature" emotionally some throughout life, but less than we might wish to believe. Life is short, and for us, not much is left, so, why bother? I have at my local senior center noticed that often the old folks do not know better, and in fact frequently know worse. Everyone who knows me like me. Most people who do not know me do not like me, or don't give a rat's ass either way: prejudice of some sordid sort? We are not a culture of like at first sight. Quite the opposite. We are, like Bertolt Brecht said: "mistrustful, lazy, yet in the end content". There are two types of popularity: social status and likability. Social status is the rich, well dressed kid,,, the good looking kid, the hot cheerleader, the stud athlete. Many of us think we want to be, but really do not want to be, of high status. the downside to high status is that nearly as many people despise you as admire and emulate you. That cheerleader is, like, soo totally stuck up. That football player is, like, cocky, even if cute. No matter who the president is, half of Americans hate his guts. Beware high status, what you want is likability popularity. That's the kind that makes you happy. that's the kind I have, and I have always been happy, despite the usual mood swings. High status I've never enjoyed, being a down dresser. My fleeting brush with it was twenty five years ago when I had a public access television show devoted to talking about left wing causes. everybody in my large town knew me; some wished they didn't. it was a weird feeling, being at once admired and despised. At the reunion, i'll be likable, and may the devil take the hindmost. It they turn it into a "Make america great again" rally, I'll slip away, mouth closed. last time I saw any of them, at homecoming, one of them said "God bless the Koch brothers". I nearly hurled. God, what morons. Go Eagles.