Imagine

I feel like the occasion of my homecoming calls for a particularly epic post. I'm officially done with classes for about 3 months. I'm no longer a freshman in college. I don't think I'm quite a sophomore yet; I'm a firm believer in summer as a transitional phase. I'm in between. And that, my friends, is a good place to be right now.

My sister was telling about this mean girl she goes to high school with. Apparently this girl was talking about Amy with another girl when Amy was just a few feet away.

(brief tangent) You know, I hate sibling stereotypes. I've met younger children who aren't spoiled brats, and I've met older children who prefer to be followers. But one stereotype that I will fight for to the death is the oldest child's right to go after anyone who hurts their little sister (or brother).

I am literally this close to marching down to that school tomorrow morning and giving that girl a good talking to. You know what I'd say? I'd say that high school is a fantasy. It's a little world that teenagers get to live in for four years. Maybe you think that who you are in high school is the person you'll be for the rest of your life. Maybe you think that if you're popular and feared and perfect you'll stay that way forever. Well, you're wrong. Because while things like that may fly while you're 18 and under, in college they don't. In the workforce they don't. If you're mean to people, if you're fake and lazy and rude, you will not get a job. You will not make friends. You will go nowhere in life. I suppose that sometimes the villains do win, but only temporarily. It's good people who really make it in the world, and if you can be as smart as my sister and figure that out early in life, then you'll do a lot better for yourself.

I suppose I just made one of those corny speeches that the earnest, yet naive protagonist makes at the end of the movie. Everyone's jaws drop, and the meanie slinks away to cry in the bathroom.

Well, my life is not a movie (as I've pointed out on numerous occasions), and I'm generally not a particularly gutsy person. But if this girl hurts my sister one more time, she's going to get an earful.

Okay, rant over. I'm terribly sorry. I know that you were expecting some sort of exhaulted poem about how good it is to be home, and how I'm sitting in my own bed right now, and how tomorrow I'm going to unpack and arrange my room and start my summer reading. Unfortunately, I'm too tired to write poetry. I'll let my friend John Lennon do it for me.

Imagine there's no heaven,
it's easy if you try.
No hell below us,
above us only sky.
Imagine all the people
living for today.

I know that everyone has heard Imagine a million times, but I don't think everyone realizes what an extraordinary song it really is. Paul McCartney is my favorite Beatle forever, but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for John Lennon. And Yoko too.