fb

Well, the whole fb thing seems to be getting out of control...

After many years of having no contact at all with anyone from high school, it seems like suddenly everyone has turned up on fb.

There is one guy, who was sorta the class clown, who was just sort of a nudge (nooj?) who now seems to be just sort of a regular guy. And I am terribly fascinated with the idea that, well, so what's not to like about him? It's not like he's sending chain letters or canvassing for Sarah Palin...it seems to be a real-life lesson in live and let live, which is sort of cool...

At the most rudimentary level there are the folks who don't really have anything at all to say other than "What's up?" They pretty much get a "Nothin" and that's it.

Then there are the folks for whom you can re-hash some memories and once that's done, you're done...not much else to say...

But there are others as well...one person with whom I barely spoke but we had a great little exchange, we learned something about each other, traded a couple of anecdotes...and although that was pretty much it, it was a meaningful and therefore touching little exchange.

It's all so wierd because you're chatting with folks who were just (myself included) stupid kids. We didn't know anything, we didn't care about anything, we weren't even fully formed enough to be offensive...that would come later.

And some of them are folks who have clearly grown up, who are so unlike their helpless young selves that it is simply impossible to connect the two, the kid who was and the man who is...

So now, you are adults and trying to bridge the gap between teenage vacuousness and whatever we are now and it is a leap. Perhaps you have things in common, or enjoy folks' company, or maybe you eally just strangers who happened to be riding the same bus for a moment, many years ago. So what...

And as more folks congregate in this cyberspace, it seems that the old lines start to re-appear. We aren't just single persons, grown older and wiser, our old friendships and alliances help to re-define or to proscribe or (what IS the right word) the relationships as the begin to be re-kindled...

Maybe it all doesn't matter because if it did we would have stayed in touch with these folks, or maybe it's an opportunity to come together with folks without all of the baggage that teenagae awkwardness and it's social contraints brings to it...surely some of these people are interesting, and nice and spending some time with them would be fun, interesting, intriguing...

Postscript: While searching for an old neighbor, the kid who first turned me on to the Beatles White Album when it first came out, I ran across a guy with a name similar to the one I was searching. Turns out that he has stated this probably more clearly than I. This entry on his blog seemed to really strike a chord.

Peace.