"I'm Sorry, Facebook"

Let's start with this admission- I don't do Facebook.  I have never had an account and I am not likely to anytime soon.  Marilyn (my wife) has had one for almost 4 years now and I keep up with most anyone I care to keep up with on her account.  She loves it, especially seeing the pictures of all the babies being born to our former youth group members all over the country and keeping up with her hometown friends from Elkin, NC.  But for the most part, when I check out her page, it just aggravates me.  I love my Twitter, and often find myself in agreement with those who say, "Facebook is where you "like" people you know and wish you didn't. Twitter is where you follow people you don't know but wish you did."

Then this past weekend Facebook threw me a curve.  Mike Newsome, an old friend that I worked with at Quaker Lake Camp back in the late 1980s, discovered this blog. As he read some of the Quaker Lake stories here he began to search for old friends on Facebook. In the process he discovered some old QLC pics that had been on Marilyn's page for a couple of years now and began tagging people and making comments.  For the rest of the week, there was an explosion of activity from people I had not seen or heard from in many years on my wife's page.  These old friends, many of whom were instrumental in the path my life took both as a person of faith and as a youth pastor, were suddenly back!  It was incredible.  There were even people I didn't even know commenting on 35 year old pictures and talking about all the memories they brought back.  This ancient 1978 QLC summer staff picture got the most attention:

Staffers, relatives of staffers and people who had barely met these staffers stopped by with "likes" and comments on this and other pics.  It didn't take long for talk of a reunion to pop up.  Seeing that folks like Mike (back left), Lynn Farlow Ossman (striped shirt) and Alice Carroll (front row, third from left) had stopped by was just so exciting.  And Susan McBane Tuggle (front right) kept the conversation going with comments all over the place. It was simply wonderful. This blurry staff pic from 1980 (which apparently I took, since I am not in it) also got lots of attention, and had many of us asking the "Whatever happened to ?" questions about so many.  It also made me miss so many other NCYM Quakers who I have not seen in years in a big way.

And then this great pic of Martha Ratledge Farlow taking part in an old school QLC tradition- being stuffed in the pot sink (by Carl Semmler among others)- was visited and commented on by her sons Carl and Jacob and her sister Nan.  The fun just kept on coming!

So I am left with the realization that perhaps Facebook can make a positive contribution to society after all. Maybe it is not just endless memes, outlandish drama and uninformed political commentary.  Perhaps there can be more to Facebook than meets the eye.  I always try to admit when I am wrong, so I want to issue an apology. "I'm sorry, Facebook, for all of the mean things I have said about you. Thanks for a wonderful weekend with old friends."  But I am still not opening an account...

Because of Jesus,