TWO BILLION DEARLY DEPARTED FACEBOOKERS

I have often thought about the stuff of daily living which we use on a daily basis, the stuff with which we surround ourselves; the modest little possessions which we take for granted. A rocking chair, a pair of reading glasses, a handkerchief, a set of car keys, a leather wallet, a class ring.

And no, it is not for the sake of the items themselves that I consistently conjure up this recurring thought; since there is little or nothing, in itself, which is fascinating about these inanimate objects.

My musing is, rather, confined to a question which “tickles my fancy” and “knocks on my door” at the most unexpected moments; when I have just finished counseling one client and I am waiting for another to walk across my threshold, as I am walking out my door to retrieve the mail, after I have retired for the night, and I am meandering through the ethereal twilight which separates wakefulness from restful sleep.

That question?

“Where, after all, are all the small, mundane personal possessions of my grandparents, and their parents, and grandparents before them?”

And, a natural follow up question might well be,

“And what will, ultimately, happen to some of those same, or similar objects which we use today; after we have gone on to our reward?”

Granted, I have garnered a few miscellaneous objects which belonged to those who went before me; (and which I intend to pass down to my own children).

An eight piece carnival glass setting originally owned by my great grandmother, (my cousin has her handkerchief), a century year old Victrola player, a prized possession of my grandfather, who once, no doubt, enjoyed listening to it before retiring for bed, several landscapes which my father painted, and numerous audio tapes on which he recounted his childhood memories, and his military exploits.

Pt. 2

But where, oh where have the vast bulk of those ancient items owned by our ancient ‘great great’s’ gone?

Were they carted out to the trash heap, and, subsequently, dematerialized in a great bonfire? Were they used ‘til they were unusable, and left behind on a bedstead in some old crumbling house? Or does some of that ancient jewelry still grace the hands and necks of those who will only be raised to live again at the resurrection of the dead?

And while I expect a few people have thought the thought, I have never met or spoken to anyone, thus far, who has admitted to doing so.

Whatever will become of the social media pages of the two plus billion men, women, boys and girls who are presently subscribers to sites like Facebook and Myspace; after they make their final departure from the land of the living?

After all, the time will come when every living soul who ever subscribed to these, and other social media sites will cease to live and breathe and move. (Yeah, they will).

I mean, several of my Facebook friends have recently taken that long journey, and all but one of them still exists in Facebook land. A military friend who left us far too early. A Frenchman whom I never met in person, but whom I liked from afar. An internationally acclaimed Flamenco dancer who literally danced ‘til he dropped; (and wouldn’t have had it any other way). A transplanted Scotsman who lived in Brazil, and who chose to pursue that “permanent solution for a temporary problem;” his three daughters having preceded him, two having chosen the same pathway, as their father after them.

There are moments when I am inclined to type in their names, and, on special occasions, I still bring up their pages. And I still find myself wishing this one or that one a “Happy Birthday in Heaven,” or “I sure do miss our conversations.”

Perhaps, I overthink stuff like this, but I have wondered whether the various social media sites will, one day, half a century hence, “clear the books” of names like… yours and mine.

And I have mused how they might identify the dearly departed subscribers who have long since typed out a message, or posted a photo. Perhaps, they will create a program to distinguish the living from the dead, based on the subscriber pages which have remained dormant for decades. (Or perhaps they will hire a myriad of temporary employees to search for those “Happy Heavenly Birthday” greetings on a couple billion all too quiescent pages).

But so much like those old rocking chairs, and handkerchiefs, and wallets, and rings of our ancient ancestors, there is little doubt that the final vestiges of a couple billion dearly departed lives, (those now reading these words included) will be subtracted from the World Wide Web, and the social media sites to which they once subscribed, and on which they interacted on a daily basis. (And interestingly enough, the folks who will ultimately subtract us have not, in all likelihood, even been born yet).

Ultimately, I think the only way you and I will continue to live, and move, and breathe on this earth, (and which needs little elaboration), the only way future generations can “take us with them” is to, by our impactful words, and actions, replicate ourselves in the lives of those whom God sets in our pathway.

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending