Retrospect: G and N

Self-tutoring about people and events from the past: the tutor mentions G and N.

G and N were people I met at university back in the 90s. They were among a group that arrived there from a prominent private school I suspect was only a few blocks away.

N was my friend, but G didn’t like me. I was an idealist while she was pragmatic. Fair enough.

I suspect the reason N and I were friends is that he liked ideas, which I’m seldom short of. He was still questioning why the world was the way it was, and how much it could change. Nowadays, however, I suspect that while I knew him, he made up his mind about a lot of those issues without telling me.

Theoretically, given the private school they came from, N and G were better-educated that I was. To talk to them, I didn’t, at the time, realize what that meant. Now, however, I think I do know what they learned at their private school that I failed to learn at the public one: how society is structured, and power is preserved. I don’t think they learned that directly so much as indirectly. However you looked at it, though, they seemed more accepting of society the way it was, compared to me.

N had a budding interest in politics, and was active in that arena even in his 20s. I never knew or understood much about G.

Last I heard, N became a corporate lawyer, while G became an advocate for affordable housing. I haven’t talked to either for decades, but I wish them both well. I especially was impressed with G for taking up a fairly idealistic cause.