I got a call last night from my one of my friends; she wanted to let me know that a high school acquaintance died the day before- slipped on a set of stairs. I was to say the least, shocked by the news. I mean, I didn’t really know this guy, he was a few years ahead of me, but I did have the chance to speak with him a few times and from what I remember he was very funny and very open. Then today, when I was on Facebook, the outpouring of sadness stunned me, not in a negative way, but because I quickly realized how many people I know who were close to him; and these people, in many cases aren’t even connected to each other, they cross age, location, occupation. The more I read the sadder I got; I was saddened for each of my friends, I was saddened because his death was a stupid accident; I was saddened because he wasn’t much older than myself. And this is going to sound really stupid and I’ll try to express my thoughts as clearly as possible…But mostly it really upset me to think that without Facebook, I actually might have not heard about his death until weeks later or even at all. Like a game of telephone, within hours via status updates, everyone had gotten the news, funeral plans announced, memorials arranged, the news of a life lost spread like wildfire…so very impersonal, yet highly intimate. I know this kind of thing happens with people in the public eye, thanks to 24- hour news and the internet. But, it just feels so strange…I don’t know…the whole thing just sucks.