CLASSMATES AND THE TRICKERY OF LIFE There is something both amusing and tragic about classmates. When we are young, sitting side by side on stiff wooden desks, everything feels equal. We wear the same uniforms, complain about the same teachers, and dream the same big dreams. We believe, with the foolish confidence of youth, that life will reward us fairly. That the one who topped the class will top in life, that the one who struggled will always struggle, that effort will always equal success. But life is not a classroom. Life is a trickster, a mischievous storyteller who loves plot twists. Then one day, years later, we meet again at ordinations, weddings, funerals, airports, or by accident at a supermarket. And suddenly, we see what nobody warned us about. The boy who never did his assignments now owns a mansion. The one who won all the academic prizes is ...