I'm currently reading Alan Greenspan's autobiography, and in the chapters on his early life a thought struck me, one that I've had many other times when reading about Hemingway or Picasso, etc.
Greenspan wrote about going over to Ayn Rand's apartment for her weekly gatherings, going to school with Henry Kissinger (even if they didn't know each other at the time in school), meeting Paul Volcker through a college friend shortly after graduating, etc.
It makes me wonder about the people around me, the people I know. Will there be anyone from my high school or university who'll become a great writer, a prominent Senator, maybe even President? I think about the people who surrounded Gertrude Stein in Paris with Hemingway and Fitzgerald. There have always been literary circles and philosophers circles, but when you start reading about several people in those circles, it often seems as though several have known each other since school days.
Sure, there are of course big names and you expect big things from those people and that can maybe be seen ahead of time. But what about the people who grew up down the street from you? Or the quiet person in an English or Algebra class? Or maybe the soprano who often had the lead in school plays is going to become a great actress on Broadway.
It's just an interesting thought.
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