 |
| Neglected reminders of unwanted memories about forgotten years are recorded in this faded, dust-covered and slightly mildewed hardcover high school year book that was sitting in the basement of my parents' home for 40 plus years. |
In our eyes of youth this great monument about us was almost immediately forgotten
and quickly became a neglected and boring unimportant history book. No, not even that much; merely a meaningless minuscule footnote of history that has found its
rightful place in obscurity.
And rightly so!
Those who are following in our footsteps do
exactly the same, and those who follow them shall continue to do the same.
Such was typical; a volume containing high school scenes diligently recorded that would, decades later, offer glimpses into an out of date way life that once was but no longer is. Once in a rare while a few may be curious but no one is really interested in...
Faded reminders of strong friendships that were formed...
and also of bitter rivalries; both long gone and now meaningless.
Awkward first romances expected to last forever blossomed, well, unexpectedly...
and those cold hard lessons of confusing painful break-up heartaches soon followed too.
Sincere but foolish beliefs that we would undoubtedly change the world...
like no other generation ever wanted to, did or could... and then we did nothing different.
That in fact we were too ignorant to perceive our world was changing regardless of us...
and in spite of us, in radical ways we could never have imagined or conceived.
Naively thinking the future was ours and ours alone, yet today...
we look back at decades that have passed and wonder...
Where has our time gone and what does it all mean?
"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven." (Luke 6:37)
This timeless, changeless truth was conveniently forgotten or willfully set aside at the expense and hurt of others in that vain self-obsessed pursuit of just wanting to understand and desiring to belong and fit in at almost any cost.
In that pursuit of self and identity through those high school years I witnessed senseless hurt and harm done to others; that same hurt and harm was done to me, and worse still, I was equally guilty of hurting and harming others while in my self-delusion was claiming I was better and not the same as others.
The Oddblock Station Agent
Addendum February 27, 2019
A news item unexpectedly stumbled upon makes for a surprising footnote...
PCHS parents, alumni upset by planned shotgun merger with
Riverdale
Montreal
Gazette, February 27, 2019
Plans to rename Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School after Riverdale closes has struck a nerve with parents and alumni.
Plans to rename Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School after Riverdale closes has struck a nerve with parents and alumni.
First, Riverdale High School was forced to walk the plank after 54 years. Now, Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School is facing an uncertain future after the current school calendar ends.
Riverdale opened in 1965, while PCHS opened in 1971.
For West Islanders tested by the pangs of declining student enrolment in Quebec’s English education system, that would be two Pierrefonds-based high schools in less than a month than would cease to exist under their former names by the time school lets out in June.
The Riverdale situation came about last month after Quebec Education Minister Jean-François Roberge used his executive powers to transfer the underused high school on Sources Blvd. from the Lester B. Pearson School Board to the French system to deal with an overcrowding issue.
But the LBPSB’s subsequent decision to launch a process that would see PCHS renamed and rebranded in a bid to welcome Riverdale students next September is upsetting some parents and alumni who don’t see why PCHS should also lose its identity amid the turmoil of Riverdale's closure.
“Why erase the success of Pierrefonds Comprehensive to ease the pain of Riverdale?” said Barbara Sholzberg, a Dollard-des-Ormeaux resident who has served on local school committees.
