We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone!
Although Pink Floyd hadn’t yet written these lyrics when I was in high school, the song Another Brick in the Wall became an anthem for rebellious youth for decades.
My high school graduation was 1969. I wouldn’t exactly call myself rebellious, although I did wear the shortest skirts and highest boots as I walked down the hallway with my nose in the air.
You see, I was a member of the drama club. Very elitist, I was.
I wasn’t the most popular girl in school or the prettiest, but I got along with everyone.
Fast forward to our high school reunion of 1979. I can honestly say I have no recollection of it.
Then suddenly it was 1989 and the 20-year reunion. Now that I do remember. All the dishy guys were balding and paunchy.
All the cute girls weren’t so cute anymore. I remember unabashedly telling my friend that I looked better than anyone and I wanted to keep that memory intact.
No more high school reunions for this gal.
Next year will be the 50th, but I shall stay home.
I have several girlfriends, however, who recently attended their 50th reunion, including Catherine Sperling Dreyer who winged her way up to Prince George.
She wrote a poem about this experience and has allowed me to share it with you.
This could be my life she is writing about. Only thing missing is Kahlil Gibran and Hermann Hesse.
I thought I was so cool reading these authors.
This could be your life.
Ours is a good life.
Into the fray when the swells of change are high.
And the gifts inspired.
Prophecy by Leonard Cohen.
Insight by Bob Dylan.
Craze by Jim Morrison.
Peace by John Lennon.
Anger by Alan Ginsburg.
Sweet rejection by Laurence Ferlinghetti.
Canada by Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
Ours is a good life.
On and on, and still swimming strong in the swells of change.
And the action is brisk.
Women on the move, move, move.
Sexual equality is hot.
She is making change in the government.
She is making change in the university.
She is calling herself MS.
And having sex on the waterbed.
Revelation: God is dead
Ours is a good life.
On and on, and the swell is internal and consuming.
Stress and doing, doing, doing.
Partners, kids, jobs, bills.
Oh, there’s sweet joy, laughter, love.
And heartache, heartbreak, courage.
There are no plans that do not swerve.
There are no promises that can be kept.
Oh God, yes, you God, sustain us.
This life is an earthy, rutted road.
Ours is a good life.
On and on, and the internal swell is loosening, calming.
Looking outward, assessing
Refining, synthesizing.
More aware, more flexible.
Family, friends, colleagues.
Conversations over dinner and wine.
Politics, global inequity.
Grateful to be Canadian.
Grateful to be alive.
Ours is a good life.
On and on, and letting go of the swell.
Breathing, reflecting, filling in the holes.
Learning humility.
Can the next big one really be 70?
70 is not the new 50, it is our 70.
We made it ours, we own it.
And it looks like this.
And this is grace.
Ours is a good life.
Thank you, Catherine, for sharing your insightful poem. You have given us much to reflect upon but I am still not going to my 50th high school reunion next year.
Well, maybe if Pink Floyd showed up…
April Lewis is the local communications director for CARP, a national group committed to a ‘New Vision of Aging for Canada.’ She writes monthly.