School spirit and yearning for community

This is one of the quotes from The Remainders I’ve been posting daily on Twitter for #RemaindersAugust. If you aren’t following me on Twitter, do it now. I’ll wait.

I’ve written a lot about high school and how it has such an outsized influence on us. Even though it is only three or four years of our lives, they are the most formative. One reason is that it is the last time many of us have a sense of community.

High school is an imposed community. We have little in common besides we live in the same neighborhood and are around the same age. But schools, at least in the United States, provide the elements of community. We get school colors, mascots, and sports teams to root for. We transform from just being a bunch of teenagers who spend six hours at the same place every weekday into Regents, Chargers, Dolphins, Eagles, or whatever symbol the school’s administrators choose. This creates a powerful bond and sense of identity we carry through our lives. And if we endure some sort of horrible event or heartbreaking tragedy, those bonds grow stronger.

Not everybody accepts this type of community. In Amiga, Peter resists it:

High school was one giant stamping press. You were forced to conform, to fit in. You had to wear the right clothes, and have your hair the right length, and listen to the right bands…