What happened to all of us?

I had the opportunity to travel this weekend to NYC.  Being in a city that large, with so many people, is a spectacle in and of itself.  We live on such a diverse planet when you think about NYC being a place where one square block of steel and concrete can house more people than probably all of Eagle County.  Time and again I just noticed people...more and more of them...pouring out of subway stations, running in central park, eating food from streetside vendors, taking a cigarette break, police officers, skateboarders, etc.

The crush of people only continued all the way through our flight back to Denver.  It was while I was waiting at Laguardia that I had my epiphany for this upcoming weeks training.  I had my headphones on and was doing some people watching during the wait for our departure.  When I was looking at people I noticed that they were all adults.  Business travelers, tourists, foreigners, retirees, flight crews, and just about anything in between.  It made me think about what each of them might of been like when they were in high school.  As I look at each person I thought to myself....was this a former????

• prom queen
• lunchroom loaner
• star quarterback
• voted most likely to succeed
• partier and drug user
• band geek
• class president
• social outcast
• debate captain
• class clown

What quickly became appearant to me was that in all of these anonymous people there was no way to gaurantee a match between my stereotypes. 

• Was the well dressed business man a former quarterback or social outcast?
• Did the guy with all the tatoos receive the most likely to succeed votes or was he a drug user?
• Was the beautiful woman a prom queen in her day or a band geek?

The more I thought about it I became facinanted with the potential of what high school back story existed for each person. 

• Did they go to a private school or public school?  Did they even go to school or graduate?
• Where they challenged or bored out of their minds? 
• Was their experience with teachers overall positive or negative? 
• Did they have the support of their parents or have to do it all on their own?

Ultimately what I decided was....What matters was the fact that all people are living the life that they have right here and now in front of them.  Why not sieze the moment and make of it what you will or what you want.  High school is one of those moments that is the story of most of our lives.  It does not define you forever but it is the moment that you have to live here and now.