I'm nobody, who are you?

Yesterday was October 9. It's been five months.

I'm going overtown on Friday to take a midcourse exam, visit a yarn shop, check out options on a tonneau lid for my truck, and re-unite with a few of my high school classmates. This was intended to be my 20 year high school reunion weekend, which appears to have fizzled from lack of organization/support/whatever. The date was picked to coincide with the annual Homecoming weekend and with it listed for so long on alumni calendars, even with no organized reunion it looks like a fair number of Eagles will be returning to the nest. Apparently along with the football game now there's also a parade - and who doesn't love small town parades?

My last alumni email also describes a ceremony inducting this year's winners into the school's Hall of Fame, and a reception to view their plaques, along with 29 others of previous years. So I have to ask - what have these two people, and the 29 that preceeded them, done that admits them to the "Hall of Fame"? Researching a cure for cancer? Building homes for Hurricane Katrina victims? Solving poverty in third-world countries? I googled the names of this year's winners and couldn't find anything noteworthy. So I'll have to check that out while I'm there.

And then, just for a kick, I googled myself. 'Cause, you know, whether in terms of my high school days or the 20 years since, I'm nobody really. Funny - I found myself at the top of the first page, and eight listings altogether, just for PR on my last workplace and volunteer work for another organization.

Five months ago a man died, thinking he had no friends, was a burden to others, and would never be any better or more than he was at that moment. Dozens of friends joined his family at his memorial service, and many of them stood up to share their memories of how much he had done to help them, how he gave them countless hours when others couldn't even spare a minute, how he gave them a chance when no one else would. He lived a small, too brief life, and never tried to set the world on fire - but he made a difference. And his death didn't make the news, not even the local papers - after all, he was nobody.

(My thanks to Emily Dickinson)