My Fellow Journalist

Sometimes the internet isn't all bad.  I'm not referring to the news about Lindsay Graham.  That?  I'm surprised.  This is more about social media, I guess.

I have one classmate who generally makes me laugh unexpectedly at his posts.  He's in the military and in southern California.  His wife was a former CSI agent?  I'm not sure but they're both wicked smart.  He seems to have quite the life and is probably one of the nicest classmates I've had.  Yesterday, he got to take a tour of the Brady Bunch house and it was just a good laugh to see him standing on those stairs where all the kids posed at the opening of the show.   

It wasn't his post that caught my attention though.  It was the person that commented that caught my attention.  

Jared Shue.  I'm going with that alias.  I hadn't heard that name in years.  I clicked on his page to see what he was up to and I was disgusted.  He's a MAGA lover and very bold about it.  Someone commented that he should grow his hair longer to piss off Muslims.  He said he pisses them off because he's a Christian.  No.  He's an asshole.  He was back in high school and still is today.  Some things haven't changed.

Jared and I used to sit next to each other in our advanced English class.  It really didn't seem like Jared was valedictorian smart. I know we had a few of them.  I think he was kind of average like myself in the smart department.  I'm not putting him down.  I think maybe I identified him with him more.  We both loved to write and we wanted to be journalists.  We both had signed up for the yearbook and Jared had signed up for the newspaper staff. 

He would show me his writing and I would try to help him out.  I can do better with helping others than I can with myself so I felt kind of honored that someone was asking for my opinion.  I helped him tweak his writing and gave him ideas.

Well he managed to get his own column on the school newspaper once he submitted his work.  I was impressed and I liked reading his column when we would get a copy.

Jared's confidence seemed to grow in a bad way.  He did get a girlfriend.  He did get more popular.  He also became an asshole.  

He stopped talking to me and ignored me when he would see me in the hallways. I had no romantic interest in Jared so it was no big deal but what an ass.  I thought well you're cool now.  Good for you.

He would sit with his girlfriend who played in the orchestra.  I think she played the violin.  She was a dipshit.  They would make out at lunch all the time at a table next to the one I sat at. I thought they were stupid.  Other people made fun of them and for how gross they were. I can't say I didn't laugh when people threw food at them.  His arrogance drove down his popularity after awhile.  

I saw Jared at UWM and he still ignored me.  Kind of felt like an ex boyfriend and how would want that?  I'll never understand why I became so beneath him.  

I didn't get to have my own column with the school newspaper. I wound up doing the type setting for the yearbook which sucked.  I also got to write a piece on the school football team.  That sucked.  It really didn't feel so hot that I helped someone who got a monthly column and have them then shun me like I was nothing.  Did I get used?  Looks that way.

I think well, I never did anything with my writing. I'm a failure. I didn't step on people to get a break.  I tried the old fashioned way.  Hard work.  

I think if him and I were in a pool of journalists, I'd probably get into trouble for giving him a swift kick in the shins.  

Good to know that Jared is still a tool.