Social Networking

A few months ago, I joined Facebook. I added a few people that I had as MySpace friends, but really, I did not do anything with the account until last month when the news broke about Facebook's ownership policy. Appalled, I left Facebook in protest. It was more of an excuse as Facebook is difficult and time consuming to navigate for dial-up users and I had become more than frustrated. A few weeks ago, just by chance, I got a email from Classmates.com about my 30 year reunion-South Cobb High School. I gave it some thought, went to the site, and made contact. I've never been one who looked forward to reunions; I've never participated in a reunion either, but this one seemed special somehow. The reunion contact person, Paul, told me that we were all getting together on Facebook first, so I decided to reactivate my account. In the past week, I have made a overwhelming number of connections, and I've enjoyed getting re-acquainted with my old classmates. It is weird because I wasn't fond of high school. It was really a horrible time in my life and I always felt like an outsider who never quite fit in. I've never waxed nostalgic about those days. A lot of things equalize in 30 years though. It is not important anymore whether or not I fit in, what is important is going back to face demons and to try to find some closure on that part of life. By facing demons, I don't mean confronting bullies or anything like that, more along the lines of overcoming one's insecurities. I believe that all high school kids are insecure, if they weren't, there would be no such thing as peer pressure. Each person incorporates those insecurities into their adult persona to a different degree.

A reunion shouldn't be a measuring stick either. It should not be about who is the wealthiest or thinnest or who has the most kids, the most education, or the most interesting career. Of course it is always fun to see how people change, or don't change, but only if one doesn't get caught up in the game and start comparing someone else's life to their own. What I think *is* important is telling people how knowing them has affected their lives. Share memories. There is something powerful about reconnecting with people who knew you back when you did not even know yourself. Very often, they see you in a way you never saw yourself, and when they share that, it can be powerfully validating. On social networking sites like Facebook, sometimes people you don't remember well or at all remember you and add you as their friend. That says something about how wrapped up we become in our own lives and it also speaks to the fact that you just never know whose life you are touching with your own.

So for now, I am on this ride, and who knows where it will lead. Somehow it feels as though I am on another of life's thresholds, but this time it is more like a 'choose your own adventure' novel than some great epic saga that is about to unfold. I suppose that for those who live a fast-paced Twitter life, that this is just one more electronic connection in their lives, but for someone like me who doesn't own a cellphone, an ipod, a laptop, or any other modern electronic communications device other than this humongo desktop computer that connects at 20 kbps(not even half of the typical dialup 56k speed) and who walks life at a much slower pace, it is really quite amazing that people can find each other so easily after so long, and better yet, share images and stories and video and snippets of their lives.