Scott, I think you we are talking about two different things. I admit the possibility, though I have not seen any proof, that Facebook might be used as a helpful tool to survive in an increasingly inhuman world, despite the obvious reality that it is, by its very nature, diminishing the users’ grasp on reality.
As for high school and college reunions, I have never attended one and do not intend to. Although sentimental to the core, I object to institutionalized sentimentalism. Part of growing up is putting away childish things, among which are “the New Year’s Eve we did the town, the day they tore the goalpost down.” If we have “moments to remember,” they need not be enshrined in high school yearbooks, Kodak moments, and class reunions. It was different when graduates of the alma mater either stayed in the same town or at least were part of an enduring network. For the most part, the world is gone. Anthony Powell’s 12 volume novel in which characters weave a “Dance to the Music of Time” across two thirds of the 20th century may still exist in England, but not here. Most of us keep up with a few good friends, but as we grow older we have less and less in common with the strangers we once thought we knew.
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