I'm not sure that I was able to appreciate it fully at the time, but I now consider my time at Harvard a special blessing. I was completely intimidated when I was there, but I found a way to survive. Even more, I got a great education and I was blessed to spend time with some remarkable people.
Harvard is a unique community. Once you become part of a graduating class, you are pretty much a part of that group forever. I graduated from college in 1979, so I'm part of the class of '79. That's important - because every five years, the alumni office puts together and publishes what's called the class anniversary report. It's a directory of sorts, but each member of the class is invited to share a narrative update on life. And it happens every five years. Since this is 2014, I just received my copy of the thirty-fifth anniversary report for the class of 1979.
The book is hundreds of pages long, and it chronicles the life stories of my classmates in alphabetical order. Some people simply provide basic biographical information, but others write detailed narratives about their lives and families. When each book comes, I start at the beginning and pretty much read every entry.
My state of mind when I begin to read each time is normally the same. Some people use this opportunity to tell the story of how great they are, so I normally begin with a cynical attitude. But that changes very quickly. As I read, I discover that most of my classmates aren't boasting at all. Instead, they are telling stories and reflecting on life and surfacing questions that matter. In fact, most of the entries aren't offensive at all. They are poignant, humble, creative, and often laugh-out-loud funny. Just today I read about tragic (ongoing) battles with cancer, failures in business, struggles in caring for aging parents, and serious reflections on things that are happening in our world.
I haven't ever written a narrative update for the reports. It seems that each time the opportunity comes, I'm distracted with other things. If everybody made that choice, of course, the anniversary report would be very, very short (and not very interesting). But I'm glad that other people have the guts to share their stories. Because I find those stories interesting, encouraging, helpful, and sometimes deeply moving.
It turns out that I went to college with some people who ended up doing some pretty incredible things. Some of my classmates from 1979 are actually famous - and others aren't really famous but feel like they should be. Some of my classmates have written important books and invented medical devices. Some have traveled the world and some have made lots of money. Some have even found a place for God in their lives. Some of the people seem just like they were in college, and some seem to be completely different people.
Reading a couple of paragraphs probably isn't the most accurate way to measure a life. But it sure is interesting. And every five years I look forward to the next installment of the story of the class of 1979.
The fortieth anniversary report for the class of 1979 will be coming out in 2019. Maybe I'll finally write my story for that one . . .