On the Passing

The World Wide Web, the Internet, instantaneous global communication, terabytes, petabytes, exabytes, zettabytes and yottabytes of information floating around the world, powering this new age of social connectivity.  We can know so much in an instant, and then again none of the questions that really matter can be answered at all, despite all those bytes of data.

Today I discovered a High School classmate has passed away.   We weren’t close in High School, but on Facebook she became my friend.  Her life and mine did not interweave into any kind of on-going dialog, nor did we share a significant common interest.  She would occasionally comment on something I posted, and I on hers.

I often wonder what lives are like on the other end of the wire that connects me, and my keyboard, to the world.  She was an actress and writer in New York City.  The last thing I think I saw was she had a job in some show or play.  The last time I commented on something she posted will, unfortunately, stay with me now forever.  It was April 24^th and she had some comment about conservatives should visit Iran to see what a conservative government was like.  Because of an event, long past, I took issue with this and told her so.  I don’t recall seeing any posts from her after that, although I did wonder why not.

In looking at the comments on her page, she apparently passed away alone, only to be discovered later by friends and colleagues who missed her.  That is a sad fate for any acquaintance.  I hope her friends and family remember her as a kind spirit, for that is what she appeared to be.  Carol, I hope your passing was a gentle one; from me, one of your friends from Facebook.