The Man Who Wasn’t There
By STEVE SMITH
July 13, 2007
When we saw the ad in The Herald my brother, Ralph (class of ’59), and I were excited to attend the first organizing meeting for the QEH Last Chance Reunion back in September 2006.
Many grand ideas were bandied about by the 25 or so people in attendance. I left my e-mail address so I could be advised of future meetings and what they wanted me to do.
A day or two later I fired off an e-mail with a multitude of suggestions to the man who chaired the meeting, offering my services where I thought I could help. I’ve been around long enough to know that ideas are a dime a dozen but perhaps he would find one or two that might be viable.
I’ll never know as no one ever responded to, or even acknowledged, my note. I did, several weeks later, receive a note inviting me to check out the new reunion website. (In fairness I must note that the committee has improved in this area. A suggestion I sent a few months ago was acknowledged promptly.)
Meanwhile, at places where I was still connected to my old high school buddies, I talked up the reunion. I was surprised to find a singular lack of enthusiasm. “Not the least bit interested,” said Scott at the curling club. “Worst years of my life,” said Rob of my Strat-O-Matic baseball group.
How naïve of me. Having lived thousands of miles away for years I assumed that everyone would be as eager as I was to connect with “long lost” acquaintances.
It’s not like I was any conquering hero in high school. I was an underachieving, academic cipher and woefully bashful in social situations. Nevertheless, I remember my three years at Q.E. fondly. I met a lot of people I still consider to be my friends even if I haven’t seen them in 35 years.
This is a bad habit of mine. I can remember things from the past quite clearly. Several times I’ve met people from those days and gone into a long, drawn-out dissertation on all the things we used to have in common only to realize, after a several minutes of blank stares, that the other person had no remembrance of me or what I was I talking about. I was the man who wasn’t there.
This hasn’t stopped me from monitoring the reunion website to see if there are any familiar names. So far there are nine people from my graduation year (’71), only one of whom I know. I’m the man who wasn’t there from the year that isn’t here.
That’s too bad because the class of ’71 was on hand for an era of startling transition. Provincial exams were a thing of the past. When we started in grade 10 the boys had to wear ties and the girls had to wear dresses. No more of that by the time we were through.
In grade 10 we were placed in classrooms where we stayed most of the day while the teachers came in and out. These classes were numbered which, if you were the least bit perceptive, allowed you to figure out where you stood in the grand scheme of QEH education. For instance, I was in C-2 which meant I was grouped, quite rightfully, in the dumber of the two Latin classes. All of this was swept away by the time we hit grade 12.
Yet, despite this lack of spirit from my old classmates, it would be fun to see the old school again. I could check out the class where Ewan Clark mercifully passed me through French because he didn’t have the heart, in his last year as a teacher, to fail anyone; or the gym where Bobby Douglas put us through our paces; or the C-2 classroom where John Stone learned that that Mr. Novak, hip-teacher stuff only worked on TV.
It would be fun but it won’t be possible. The Halifax School Board, despite the best efforts of the reunion committee, has decreed that, because of cost factors, the school is now off limits. There will be no tours allowed. All reunion activities are taking place at the Halifax Forum. Now I’m the man who wasn’t there, from the year that isn’t here, at the school that isn’t open.
I’m sure the reunion committee has worked very hard on this event and I wish them all the best. But, in keeping with my high school personality, I must report that the man who wasn’t there won’t be there on July 27. I don’t think anyone will notice.