Life After Brigadoon

High School Graduation

By Robert Ringer

In late spring of my senior year at Brigadoon High, the principal, Mr. Jones, met with every member of the senior class, one on one, to discuss their futures after high school graduation. To put it mildly, I was never one of Mr. Jones' favorite students, so I wasn't looking forward to our meeting. And, as it turned out, nothing could have prepared me for what transpired.

Immediately after I sat down in his office, Mr. Jones, in his best passive-aggressive manner, blurted out, "Ringer, my advice to you is to go to a trade school after graduation. If you work hard at it, you might be able to make a decent living as a carpenter or plumber. (Since he didn't mention electrician, I assume he thought that job would be too complicated for me.)

I remember smiling inside when he spoke those words, but I repressed the urge to make a smart-aleck retort. Instead, I played along and told Mr. Jones that I appreciated his input and that I would certainly give his advice a lot of thought. In retrospect, however, it really wasn't funny, because I now realize that millions of kids not fortunate enough to be in the Inner Ring are brushed aside like so much waste matter - not just by classmates, but by teachers and administrators as well. You get pegged early on in school - and, with few exceptions, you stay pegged.

Throughout high school, I almost never cracked a book and, predictably, got terrible grades - with one exception: I achieved straight A's in English all four years. I was always surprised when I saw how hard most kids struggled with English composition, because for me it was a piece of cake.

Now wouldn't you have thought somebody at Brigadoon High - perhaps an English teacher - might have noticed that I had some writing talent? And that such a person would have sat me down and talked to me about how I might go about nurturing my writing skills and turning them into a profitable career? It never happened … not even once.

While I didn't take Mr. Jones' comments seriously, it bothers me that the potential of millions of kids is being ignored as I write this. It makes me want to shout, "Who in the hell is in charge here? Where are all the adults? Where are the so-called educators?"

There's a movie-like P.S. to this story. Years later, after I had become a bestselling author, my mom happened to be shopping at a department store - and guess who she ran into? Right … none other than that master talent scout himself, former Brigadoon High principal Mr. Jones - who was working as a salesman in the men's shoe department! (Could it be that he didn't have the skills to be a plumber?)

As you would expect of any proud mother, she walked up to him, introduced herself, and said, "Did you happen to see my son, Robert, on The Tonight Show the other night?" Bless my mom … what a feisty little lady. It's no wonder she's alive and alert at the tender age of ninety-eight.

I don't know what Mr. Smith said to each of his sacred-cow Inner Ring members during their private meetings, though I doubt he gave them his trade-school pep talk. But the way some of their lives turned out after high school graduation, perhaps he should have.

Bob Zak, who became my closest friend after high school, was an exception. He was the most popular kid at Brigadoon High - president of our senior class and right up at the top of the Inner Ring hierarchy along with Pudge Johnson. He wasn't an athlete, just a super-likeable guy. Bob went on to become cofounder of a 150-man law firm and a civic leader. His success did not surprise me.

By contrast, things did not turn out so well for Pudge Johnson. Unfortunately, the charmed life he enjoyed throughout high school did not survive graduation. After majoring in girls and booze at an Ivy League university, he went to work for his family's heavy equipment company, which is, to this day, a giant, worldwide corporation. I believe he worked for a year or two before quitting … and, from what I understand, never worked another day in his life.

From time to time, I've thought about how Pudge's life turned out - as, among other things, a chain smoker and heavy drinker who never had to concern himself with making a living. (Even though I have not revealed his real name, there are some details that I prefer not to go into that are even more grim. The only thing I will say is that I have been told that his smoking and drinking habits have taken an irreversible toll on his health.)

While I personally liked Pudge, when I put him under the Cho-scope, the words trust funds and debauchery come quickly to mind. His plight also causes me to think of Viktor Frankl's many writings on the dangers of living a life without meaning. As much as young Robert Ringer would have loved to have been king of Brigadoon High, I don't think I could have survived the fall from that lofty throne to a meaningless life after graduation.

This was underscored for me when, as a freshman in college, I was enjoying a burger and fries at a campus coffee shop with a friend of mine, Sam Merrick. Sam had gone to a private school located not too far from Brigadoon High, where The Game was played with similar ferocity.

He was a super athlete who, in his senior year, was named the outstanding football player (quarterback) in the entire city (which included many rough-and-tough inner-city schools). I don't recall exactly how the subject came up, but at some point in our conversation, Sam said, in a somber tone, "Once you're out of high school, it's over. Everything is downhill from there. Life after high school sucks."

Wow! I couldn't believe it. The Game that had so consumed me at Brigadoon High was now behind me, and I was excited about asserting myself and accomplishing great things. But for Sam, life was over! Though he had a modestly successful post-college career as a stock broker, on those few occasions when I saw him, he clearly appeared to be an unhappy person.

It's very easy to envy the Pudges and Sams of your class (or your children's classes), but you have to wonder if their lofty jock status isn't setting them up for a calamitous fall. Once they leave Brigadoon, the spell is broken and they have to compete with all those nerds who, unlike Cho, often get their revenge by becoming outrageously successful in the real world.

More to come on life after Brigadoon High School Graduation in Installment XXVII ...

Previous - Part XXV, The Inner Ring Royalty: Who Makes Up the Inner Circle?

Next - Part XXVII, Outcasts by Choice

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