School homecomings and reunions: Are they still socially-relevant?

THE FIRST four months of any given year in the Philippines can be safely and generally labeled as high school homecoming and reunion season.  For us, overseas residents, it has become common news to hear about family, friends and acquaintances excitedly planning on a trip to the old country to attend and participate in this yearly exercise. There must be something enigmatic about high school, this phase of anyone’s educational journey that makes it better remembered, cherished and celebrated with so much fondness and nostalgia.  But I’d rather not venture into any kind of speculation about this now.

 

Are homecomings, jubilee celebrations and reunions relevant?  Given today’s societal atmosphere, do they still occupy a space in the social value hierarchy?  Or, have they become so securely entrenched in our customs and traditions that being so, their relevance and worth should be better left unchallenged? To partly answer the question, I am privileged to feature in this column two contrasting opinions on the topic, short of quoting these almost verbatim. 

Juliet S. Pascual, a journalist friend, in a guest article featured in our 2015 Dingras High School Alumni Homecoming souvenir program, has this to say: “Class reunions, just like family get-togethers, are inclusive that open the golden opportunity for former classmates to reconnect with one another and who just simply walk down the memory lane sans stories of success, travels and wealth.  The class members’ perspective on many things --- attitudes, values, aspirations, dreams --- will once more come to the fore as they share stories of friends, even enemies, and teachers who modeled the way.  Unfortunately, a good number of friends I know are somewhat reluctant to attend homecomings simply because these rare gatherings are being used as venues  to flaunt stories of “successes, wealth and achievements” instead of using them as opportunities to share in the happiness of seeing old classmates again ….When classmates get together after a long lapse of time, they should look at reunions in a profound way and see these not merely as reconnection but a homecoming in a different light imbued with a sense of purpose.” 

Personal perspectives examined

“Reunions show the classmates’ perspectives if these have leveled up and have attuned to their teachers’ or their role models’ profound ideals of wisdom, compassion and humility.  They show how the class members have faced the challenges that bear witness to their struggles to improve their lives as they waded in a different playing field.  Life-changing experiences can lead to redirected perspectives that allow old classmates to take stock of their accomplishments and share the joy and fulfillment of having done something good that benefited others in their journey. Still, reunions lead class members to see beyond the obvious, and simply give of themselves,” she concludes.

“Common now, who are we kidding?” counters a pragmatic-sounding guy who is hiding under the moniker, Proud Coward of the County. “Most go to gatherings like homecomings and reunions for self-serving and self-gratifying reasons.  They go to these events to, among others, flaunt the result of their many trips to the plastic surgeon or dermatologist: a totally-overhauled face, a magically-firmed up you-know-what, a nicely replanted or camouflaged hair space or a glutathione-Vicky-Belo beaten skin.  Others go to these gatherings to parade jewelry-laden or Christian-Dior/Ralph-Lauren-wrapped bodies.  Those who fall short under the preceding categories simply resort to the most convenient of ways: tell a tall story even the most-hardened skeptics could not resist embracing … a lie!  After all, who would ever go to great lengths to check?  Now, will all of those uneducated, silent trippers, anti-socials and virtual nobodies like me just please move out of the way?  Or, if your stomach is thickly-lined enough to digest any or all of the above scenes, just you watch and listen in prolonged and excruciating agony and pain!”

Need I say more?  What’s your take on the matter, folks?