Death and the Facebook Page

My mother was in the process of shifting to a new home telephone number earlier this year and as a result, she missed out on the usual midnight telephone call informing her of a loved one's death. In fact, when my father's youngest sister died in January of this year, the first news she received of it came from me -- and only because I had been fortunate enough to check my Facebook page soon after my aunt died.

After all the telephone calls I had received in the past that had informed me of the deaths of various out-of-state relatives, it seemed strange that the first notice of my aunt's death came from a notice on my Facebook page that had been posted by one of her adult children. Then again I remember being so out of sorts after the death of my father -- and then again after the death of my sister -- that I could readily understand why my aunt's children did not bother to make telephone calls to everyone who was related to her. Especially since a notice on Facebook was much easier.

Still I had badmouthed Facebook so much in the past that it seems equally strange for me to be saying anything good about it right now. After all, as much as fun as it can be on Facebook on times, I must admit that it is not really my cup of tea. If I did not have so many friends and relatives who posted on Facebook, I would have nothing to do with it -- and even then, I can't help but noticing that my older relatives post less frequently than my younger relatives. And that most of the time I have more informative conversations with the same people through e-mail than through Facebook (no doubt because there are many things one feels more comfortable talking about through E-mail than through Facebook).

Oh, well. I will probably always have issues with Facebook but I can't pretend that it can not be a positive thing at times. After all, if it were not for Facebook, my mother and my youngest brother would have missed the opportunity to attend my aunt's funeral. And while it goes without saying that I would have wished that my aunt's funeral were still a long way off in the future, I consider it much better that my mother and my brother at least had a choice as to whether or not they would attend her funeral. After all, that choice could have been very easily taken away from them by circumstances beyond their control. Thanks to Facebook, it was not.