Impact

I reconnected recently with a High School classmate (Facebook, of course) and have enjoyed getting reacquainted. I'm not sure that would hold true of very many of them. And that is one of the things we've found fascinating - remembering names (so many faces still 18 years old in our minds - how can cute Bobbi and handsome Jim and heart-throb Judy and jock Al be in their 60's!?) and realizing how terribly important they once were in our lives. It was central to our very being to be liked by them and accepted and thought of as just a little bit 'cool' (although I'm pretty sure I never even approached that plateau). After we all went our separate ways, not having the internet and probably not the desire, we lost them in our lives. And we never regretted that.

Those people, once so terribly important, mean virtually nothing to us now other than memories - and even the memories are a bit sparse.

But here is the thing: There isn't anyone who has ever crossed our paths who has not "rubbed off" on us to some degree. Some have left just a touch, others a smudge, some a deep impact. But every one of those young people had a part in making us who we are today - for better or for worse.

So today try to name a dozen or so high school classmates (you'll remember them as 18 and because they are still your age you may feel quite a bit younger yourself). Think about how your interaction with them shaped who you are. And thank God - maybe that you knew them - maybe that you 'escaped' their influence.