The School's Alumni and the Last Surviving U.S. Veteran of World War I

[Lot88...@verizon.net]

There were 4,734,991 Americans who served in World War I. As of March
2008, there is only one surviving U.S. veteran of the first Great War,
Frank Woodruff Buckles. (Ref.: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/07/war.veteran/index.html).
What does this singular statement telling a NESHS or GNHS or JRLMHS)
alumni?

For one: more than 4.7 million Americans were in the Great War. Two:
In less than a 100 hundred years (94 years, to be exact), of the 4.7
million Americans who were in the Great War, there is today only one
survivor. Time moves fast ... and life is short.

Relate that to a NESHS (or GNHS or JRLMHS) alumni. The last NESHS
alumni graduated from the school in 1981 (before the school's name was
changed, in 1982, to Gapan National High School). The last GNHS alumni
graduated from the school in 1983 (before the school's name was
changed, in 1984, to Juan R. Liwag Memorial High School). 28 years
have elapsed since the school's name was NESHS (and 26 years since the
school's name was GNHS). In another 50 years, the number of NESHS
alumni (and GNHS alumni) would diminish dramatically; and in another
additional 25 years, there probably would not be a singular surviving
NESHS or GNHS alumni.

These futuristic projections presents an extinction scenario for a
NESHS and GNHS alumni: In another 75 years, there probably would not
be a living NESHS or GNHS alumni. Sad is it not. There would be JRLMHS
alumni, but no NESHS or GNHS alumni. Our identity with a school will
totally cease then ... and no one, no group ... will carry our school
identity into the future.

Thus is our destiny ... for having identified strongly ... with a
beloved school name.