World Spins Madly On

While wandering around Facebook tonight I came across the page of an old friend who died a few years ago. On his Facebook wall friends and family still write messages, wish him happy birthday every year, and say hi and how they miss him. His photos are still there that he posted, his information, his friends, everything. It's as though he's still alive. Don't misunderstand my post here though, it's not meant to depress you. Really I just found this fascinating that people still post things on his wall as though he were sitting at a computer somewhere reading it (an entirely different discussion about afterlife would bring up that maybe he is, but that's aside from my point). I think, of all the ridiculous and concerning things that come about from technology, specifically Facebook, there is something sort of nice about there being a place for people who have lost a loved one to go, stop by for a minute and "visit" this person who is no longer around. Just say hi, type out a memory or well wishes or whatnot. Facebook even reminds you when it's the person's birthday. Now before Facebook, probably the family and close friends of a person who has died would remember their birthday and think of them on that day, but now, you get a reminder and you can take a second out of your day to think of the person and wish them a happy birthday. I think this is a cool "new age" way of grieving as well as the healing process and, ultimately, of remembering those who are no longer with us. For the foreseeable future, the internet is going to be around for a while, and it's nice to see an old friend pop up on your Facebook page every now and then even after they're gone. I don't mean this in a "denying they're actually gone" sort of way, it's just an interesting development that has come along with the advancement, at unbelievable speeds, of the internet.