time, change, and high school

Yesterday I was looking at my high school's almumni website, reading the profiles of many of the people I graduated with. It was fascinating to read the many ways in which my classmates have changed. Some of them have changed for the better. Many have changed in the opposite direction.

I also cross-checked the names on the website with a state database of misdeameanor and criminal convicts. Sad but fascinating.

The alumni website linked to many of my classmates' blogs and websites. Reading their profiles, and reading their blogs, was a sad form of entertainment. Psychologists say that "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior", and they're right. The people who drank or did drugs or slept around in high school were still drinking, doing drugs, sleeping around, etc. Most of them have parented at least one child out-of-wedlock. Several of them have a criminal record. A frightening number of them are on probabation, and a half-dozen of them are now on the sex offender registry.

But that didn't surprise me. Perhaps what saddens me most is reading about the people who were involved in the local youth groups, but who are now living on the opposite end of the spectrum. For the sake of anonymity I will not link to their blogs or mention their names on here. However, suffice it to say that many people from my high school have lost my respect.

I have a class reunion coming up. I don't think I will go. There was a far greater number of classmates who chose a downhill path for their lives, than those who chose an uphill path.

It leads me to wonder who I will be and where I will be in ten years. Lord willing, I pray that I can grow even closer to Him.