A helping hand
The modern era has seen people grow more distant from one another and traditional familial and neighborly relationships become more tenuous. In such a social environment, reunions can offer timely support.
Jian Mengqiang is a Taipei interior designer who studied architecture in college. Though his work keeps him very busy, he has volunteered to organize his class’s reunion in every year since his discharge from the military.
One member of Jian’s class actually took time off from work to reconnect with a classmate who they had discovered was “living a life of the spirit” in the mountains. When classmates attending the reunion learned that their cloistered classmate was becoming detached from the real world, they became quite concerned and resolved to take action.
Prior to last year’s reunion, Jian consulted with an exceptionally resourceful classmate about a means to check that their reclusive classmate was in fact doing alright. Jian’s “consultant”—an outstanding student who had gone on to be a gangster—appealed to their old friend’s feelings for the group, saying: “Listen to me. You have to come to this year’s reunion. Many of us have lost our way these last few years. Me, for example. I’ve taken a wrong turn. Please come open everyone’s eyes!”
“Our intention was to make him recall the happy times he’d had with us when he was young and draw him back into the group,” says Jian. “Or at least let in a breath of air.”
Class reunions enable everyone to lend a hand, making the path forward easier. They also serve to stir warm memories in people entering their later years.
The first class from Hsinchu’s Zhulian Elementary School graduated in 1957 and began holding reunions when they turned 50 years old (many were teachers who had retired at the age of 50). A few years ago, the 65-and-over retirees began taking annual trips, and last year they added an annual banquet to their events schedule.
“Who knows. There may be one fewer of us at each year’s banquet going forward,” says someone, before being immediately “corrected” by the group. “What I mean is that we have to keep ourselves healthy if we’re going to make it here every year. But I know in my heart that even if our numbers were whittled down to just two and both of us in wheelchairs, we’d still hold the banquet.”
A group of 1943 graduates of Hualien’s Fonglin Primary School began holding annual reunions when they turned 60, a tradition that has lasted more than 20 years now. Four or five years ago, group members began feeling that their time might be getting shorter, and changed their get-togethers to one every other month. More than 20 of them still attend the gatherings, which usually involve eating, chatting, and a visit to a karaoke, either in Hualien City or Fenglin Township.
Cai Jinren, a student of the culture and history of Fenglin, says that in rural areas with aging populations, class reunions often serve a recreational and local support function. Where they help the elderly pass on their memories of their youth, they are also a precious cultural resource.
Memories are one of the great assets of our later years, and gatherings with old classmates one of the great pleasures.