Facebook: Where our Personal History Comes Alive

I had not spoken to or seen John since our 1985 graduation from Robinson High School in Fairfax, Virginia. In the past couple months many of us have reconnected through Facebook and have enjoyed seeing photos of kids and catching up on news from many of the 900+ classmates from that year.

Recently a mutual friend posted John’s link to a daily journal of his battle with brain cancer. He was fighting hard, in good Navy SEAL spirit. Hundreds of friends wrote him words of encouragement everyday and his wife tapped away at the computer in the dead of night when all was quiet to update his status. John lost his battle on January 18. His obituary ran today in the Virginia Pilot linked here .

In our day of information saturation it is a wonder that 150 million plus people are toiling away on their scanners to upload fading shots of life from the 80’s and a few, carefully selected, college photos from the 90’s. Our kids short histories and our own recent histories have mostly been completely digitized in crisp color so it is our photos that need the scanners.

The photos are at once familiar and yet from another time. The church Youth Group photos on retreat in the Virginia mountains bring the biggest smile to my face. Their names and families are still familiar to me although I have not seen most of them in more than 20 years. But, by reconnecting we somehow rediscover a piece of our history and a piece of ourselves.

In Facebook the Status Updates are just like the newsbites of celebrities that run on countless websites and magazines. But, in Facebook you actually know the people. Today, Ann is training for her first 1/2 marathon; Tammy is crossing the Causeway again; Woodson is commuting to Staines in the Raines; and several friends watched the premiere of “Lost” last night. Many people laugh at themselves for spending so much time in the wee hours of the night on Facebook.

John’s fight for life inspired and touched so many. I’m glad I got to “meet” him again and learn about the extra-ordinary person he had become. Facebook has perhaps enabled us to see our sometimes compartmentalized lives with a wider lens.