Broadcasting is familial. We accept each other, enjoy each other, tolerate each other, and miss each other when circumstances change. Facebook is often a broadcast yearbook in motion. It contains our “remember when” and also sends us updates and photos. We learn of special events in the lives of people we treasure. Sometimes we learn from a post on a Facebook page about the passing of colleagues.
I’m grateful someone lets us know on Facebook, not because we can do anything, but so we can honor the life. We can acknowledge the loss, even if all there is to say is, rest in peace. Prayers and sympathy and empathy are not nothing because they can’t arrive in person. A life matters. A passing matters.
I appreciate Facebook for the same reasons. I think it’s safe to say no other social communication medium has ever been devised that allows us to keep our memories bundled neatly with our todays.
I also think Facebook has given me a greater appreciation for the arbitrary nature of life and death. Before FB was created people passed out of my life and I never learned of what became of them. Now I can at least pay my respects silently, with a smile and a nice, private memory or two.
Amen, Brother Dave!