What My Harvard College Reunion Taught Me About Life
Five takeaways:
- The author begins the piece by reflecting on the graduation speech by Harvard’s president at her graduation from the university in 1988, noting regrettable truths (and subsequent shifts) in Harvard’s admissions practices surrounding economic, racial, and cultural groups.
- She then jumps to her 30th reunion, noting that she was compelled by the way that life after graduation had become less about the prestigious school listed on her diploma, and more about getting in touch about the essential qualities of being human.
- The author then lists 30 “truths” she took away from her 30th reunion. The full list is worth reading, but five particularly resonant takeaways are below. Some of them are findings from the class survey each attendee took before the event.
- Nearly all the alumni said they were embarrassed by their younger selves, particularly by how judgmental they used to be.
- The group’s strongest desire, in the pre-reunion class survey—over more sex and more money—was to get more sleep.
- They became far more generous with their “I love you’s.” They flew freely at the reunion. They don’t ration them out to only their intimates now, it seems; they’ve expanded their understanding of what love is, making room for long-lost friends.
- No matter what the classmates became– a congressman, a Tony Award–winning director, an astronaut—at the end of the day, most of their conversations at the various parties and panel discussions throughout the weekend centered on a desire for love, comfort, intellectual stimulation, decent leaders, a sustainable environment, friendship, and stability.
- Attendees who’d experienced the trauma of near death—or who were still facing it—seemed the most elated to be at reunion. Some “were giggling, giddy as toddlers, practically bouncing on our toes, unable to stop hugging each other and smiling as we recounted the gruesome particulars of our near misses.”
From Deborah Copaken at The Atlantic:
Read the whole story.
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