I passed by an old friend the other day. A friend I’d known since kindergarten. We didn’t exchange so much as a smile, nor even the slightest suggestion of recognition. Only a glance. Then at once we hastened forward, ushered by the swift flow of students. 

It’s easy to get lost in this swift flow. It’s even easy to drown in it. 

Most say when lost in a surge of water, it is best not to struggle; best to “go with the flow.” I say, however, it is best to struggle and to do so with spirit. 

Spirit is exactly what we’ve lost, though. It’s the same reason why when met with the soft eyes of a girl I’d known for a decade, I merely hardened my gaze downstream. 

I now realize how ironic it is. In an effort to stay afloat against the torrent of teachers and textbooks and tardies, I dodge all distractions and dismiss all spirit. For this exact reason, though, I always find myself deeper than before. 

So why do I continue to act this way? Is my memory really so short that a daily reminder is not enough to keep my attention?

No, it’s not my memory that’s suffering; it’s my mind. Not just mine, but by the looks of it everyone’s. 

The word a more knowledgeable person might use to compare this with is “disassociation.” Now I don’t mean to diagnose a whole population of students, but I do want to point out the causes and symptoms. 

According to Mind.org,“people choose [it] as a way of calming down or focusing on a task.” Sounds familiar to me. It’s also “one way the mind copes with too much stress.” In addition, you may “feel emotionally numb or detached…and like you are a different person sometimes.” Does this ring a bell?

Well if it does you’re not alone. It seems we’re all in the same boat, struggling against the same current. We have gotten so swept up in school that we’ve abandoned all perceived appendages. The grossest misjudgement was that of spirit. 

Perhaps a resurgence of spirit is the only way to combat the surge of school.