Cranbrook's motto is "Aim High!" As students, we were taught to set a higher standard for behavior and for academic, social, and athletic achievement. Even though I was considered a bit of an outsider at Cranbrook, I was rarely taunted or teased. And, I was NEVER bullied.
Conversely, in my inner ring suburban Detroit neighborhoods, and at the numerous public schools I attended, I was bullied relentlessly. I may not have been "popular" at Cranbrook, but I was treated respectfully by the wealthiest students, the most popular students, and even the jocks.
Thus, even though I attended Cranbrook in a somewhat more progressive era, a decade later than Mr. Romney, his behavior strikes me not as the "norm," but rather, a bit of an aberration. While they might not have been my closest friends, I knew plenty of students highly privileged students at Cranbrook. In fact, many were scions of greater wealth than Mr. Romney. Yet all of them treated me with respect, even though I was smaller than average and didn't wear the "right" clothes, live in the "right" neighborhood, listen to the "right" music, or excel in athletics.
But, I certainly knew Romney's type at the other schools I attended. Indeed, they were they among the worst kinds of bullies, and their cruelty could be boundless. One might be able to forgive--on some level--the bullies whose underemployed fathers beat them with drunken abandon. But, it was so much harder to forgive the sons of Detroit's manufacturing elite who chose to "pick on" me and so many others whose cultural, intellectual, and social interests fell outside their definition of the norm.
Mr. Romney was given every advantage in life. From his access to wealth and an elite education, to a loving and intact family, to his physical gifts of height, health, and telegenic good looks. For him to assault and "outsider" because his hair was "too long," or to mock a boy for his less than "macho" demeanor, or to "prank" a disabled faculty member is unbecoming of a Cranbrook student, the son of a governor, and a presidential candidate.
Either Mr. Romney truly lacks empathy for those who are "different" or he is simply someone whose primary means of achieve comes not from "Aiming high," but tearing others down. Given they way he's commanded his primary campaign, it appears as if the latter is closest to the truth.
Mr. Romney not only owes the late Mr. Lauber an apology, he owes amends to the others he traumatized by his actions at Cranbrook--and to his fellow Cranbrook alumni. He has not only demeaned himself, he has besmirched our good name.
The Complainer