Disunion over ‘Reunion Disunion’ column

I read the column titled “Reunion disunion –  A case for skipping class reunions” in the editorial section of this paper (Tuesday, April 26). I was perplexed by two things. First, why would the paper print an editorial by someone who obviously doesn’t like reunions and has not been to one in 30 years and had only attended two. Second, why would anyone feel the need to tell everyone about the bad experience they had or their obvious lack of caring about the classmates they grew up with.

I moved to Maine from New Jersey in 1970. I attended every class reunion except for 1996 when I was in an accident on the way to my 25th. The 10th and 20th were a little more cliquish. People tended to stay in the same groups as in high school, but as the years went by, the reunions became more inclusive for everyone. The best was probably the 50th. About 90 classmates out of 230 came. They came from all over the country. There were even 11 from California. The first night was an informal get-together around the bar, followed the next day by a tour of the school by the vice principal. The school had really changed. This all concluded the next night with a formal dinner. The 55th was the next best and the last. After all the activities were over, some of us went to a room and spent a few more hours reminiscing. In 2020, the person who organized everything died. So our class reunions are over. However, we had such a great time that we decided to Zoom. Now, about 15 of us meet monthly to chat. It is a lot of fun.

Reunions aren’t about one person upping another, they’re about taking the time to reconnect a little with the past and seeing everyone else’s achievements and maybe disappointments. They’re about sharing. We didn’t talk about those who weren’t interested enough to come. We shared our experiences with those who came.

Paul Karwowski,
Topsham

Our actions as a society? Highly illogical

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If there was ever any character in movies or television that I identify more closely with it is Spock from Star Trek. His whole world was seen as “logical” or illogical, tempered by his human half. Things either made sense or not. That is how I tend to look at our world and it is deeply, sadly, disappointing.

Over the decades, I have witnessed the Cuban Missile Crisis, a Cold War, the tumultuous ’60s and the Vietnam war, the assassination of one president, his brother and a respected Civil Rights leader. We elected one “dirty tricks” president who had to resign as did his initial vice president, and a president who engaged in morally improper behavior inside the White House and lied about it. They were followed by a president who got us involved in two wars, one of which was predicated on a lie and the other which lasted 20 years and never achieved its goal. Finally, we managed to elect a serial liar and morally corrupt, nihilistic narcissist who trashed our Democracy and tried to overthrow it with an insurrectionist coup while coercing the Republican party into becoming a sycophantic cult.

Along the way, we have seen the degradation of our religious institutions with a litany of unfathomable scandals in the Catholic Church and the evangelical world. Abuse against women continues to be revealed. White collar crime fueled by plutocratic greed caused the 2008 financial collapse. Wealth inequity, poverty and homelessness have continued to increase in America as has gun violence, drug addiction and mental illness. Then there was the pandemic.

To top it all off, our planet is slowly dying from over population, pollution, and global warming. Water and food shortages are increasing as well as natural and man made disasters. Now we have an appalling genocidal military crisis with no viable outcome.

So what do we do? Does anyone care? Spock’s Vulcan side would see all this as illogical….his human side would be revolted and sickened, as am I.

Jeffrey Runyon,
Brunswick

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