High School Never Ends

The whole damn world is just as obsessed
With who's the best dressed and who's having sex,
Who's got the money, who gets the honeys,
Who's kinda cute and who's just a mess
And you still don't have the right look
And you don't have the right friends
Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends
High school never ends

(High School Never Ends; Bowling for Soup)

When I first heard this song without really listening to the lyrics, I thought it’s just another happy song glorifying the high school years. The merry melody, the title and the way the band sing it brings to the conclusion.

After I find the lyrics, turned out that the song is actually means the opposite. The song is about a loser who “don't have the right look and don't have the right friends” in high school. He’s grateful when he finally graduates, but he finds the world is no different with high school situation; hence “high school never ends”. And believe me, I can relate to the song all too well.

It has some point, for my case at least. In high school I didn’t belong. With no look, no sporting ability, no car and no style I was almost invisible. Oh peer pressure can be so agonizing. I tried to blend in, followed the trend, hang out with them. That’s the problem: I tried too hard since actually their lifestyle doesn’t suit me. And still, I could not blend in. Ends up I wasted the best chance to excel in the thing I actually have the potential for: study.

Well, of course it wasn’t that bad. I eventually made friends with few people with whom I can be myself without being scorned. In study I wasn’t doing badly either, if only mediocre at best. Looking back, what I regret is the wasted time and the pain I put myself to for trying to be someone I am not. Had I found those good friends earlier, I could save myself from the agony and spend more time doing what I really like.

And the only thing that matters
Is climbing up that social ladder
Still care about your hair and the car you drive
Doesn't matter if you're sixteen or thirty-five

Now, here I am. So far life has been good to me and I’m grateful. Can’t claim that I’m doing very well, but certainly I’m not doing awfully worse than most of my peers. Over the years it turns up my so-called standard of living is getting higher with better income. Two different pair of shoes for instance, used to be sufficient for every occasion, and I didn’t buy new one before they really worn off. Now, I ‘need’ different shoes simply to match my attire.

And when I meet old friends what are we talking about? That’s right: “who's got the money, who gets the honeys”. Who does what and how well they do, who’s marrying who, who drives what, who lives where and so forth. Yes it’s true that most of the times we do it innocently without any ill intention, merely updating the situation, keep tracking the whereabouts of old friends. But honestly, sometimes unintentionally we also compare our life with theirs. Are we better off or worse off?

Ah without realizing it I have become the ‘them’ I despised in high schools. And I am still doing it, climbing up that social ladder, “doesn't matter if you're sixteen or thirty-five”. What used to be a peer pressure now becomes norms I have to fulfill. These are the norms I have to confirm so my friends and family can see me as a ‘somebody’—whatever it really means. The parameters? Right again, those things again: who does what and how well they do, who’s marrying who, who drives what, who lives where. So superficial, so pointless.

When does it end? Get real, high school never ends…

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