Broken records and true believers at the high school reunion

On Saturday, my friends and I celebrated our 20 year high school reunion. I haven't seen any of them since graduating in 2006.

As people recounted stories from the past, it reminded me of where I come from and also what I was like back in the early to mid-2000s. You can see a photo of me from 2004 in the images below...look at that punkrock style. ha!

Many folks told me that I hadn't changed much in the last two decades.

One of the women I was in English class with recounted stories of me writing essays against the WTO rules at the height of the global justice movement in the early 2000s. The teacher gave me a bad grade for not liking my politics but I don't think I cared much.

I suddenly remembered that I also wrote essays and presented on downsizing at our local Ford Köln factory, an Indian peasants strike, and, above all, the two cleaners working at our school.

On our school's web page we had a section where you could "thank" or write a word of praise about someone. After some kids had vandalised our school yard, I wrote some words about the Zarger couple who had fled their home country where they had been goldsmiths to arrive in Germany to work as cleaners.

In the small essay, I wrote about the value of their work and that they deserve recognition. Even though I wouldn't use the same phrases and words today, I pretty much write and work about the same topics until this day.

Talk about being a broken record or maybe I am just a true believer.