by C. S. P. Barnes

Created on: February 08, 2009   Last Updated: July 26, 2010

Finding school friends on social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook after 15 years of no communication has no detrimental effects to health.  There has been no 60 Minutes expose detailing the painful symptoms one endures when venturing into social networking with peers from the past.  One could effectively argue that it is by and large a cathartic experience. Most of us recall our youthful days in the halls of our high schools as positive life-forming years; years full of fun and self-discovery. We remember how much we valued our friendships and how we felt like we would never part from our group of compatriots with whom on a day to day basis we faced the world from behind a desk.

Flash forward to the present day; all those friends we thought we would never part with have all but disappeared. The only thing most people are left with nowadays is possibly one or two, if that, from the circle of friends we had in yesteryear. It's an odd irony and almost a tragedy the separation that takes place after we throw our caps and receive are rolled-up diplomas. Of course, fifteen years ago we didn't have the technology to stay in touch not only from day to day but from minute to minute. Enter online social networking.

Facebook and other social networking sites have given us an amped up high school reunion. You can share pictures, messages, notes, those goofy Christmas status updates, and even start up chats with others who are online at the same time as you. It's not high school all over again, but it lets us remember those good times.  The only cliques you have to deal with are the actual 'clicks' from your mouse as you excitedly look and catch up on the lives of old friends. It lets us see that others with whom we have grown have struggled through life's trials as we have. And in this is the most important element, finding old high school friends and keeping in touch after no communication for 15 years gives us that sense of belonging and even that sense of found.

You ever go through an old box of things you stored away? Inside those boxes were treasured memories: A baseball glove that you used at the championship game; a Valentine's card that you received from a high school sweetheart; a yearbook complete with pictures of a boy or girl who thought they knew everything and were in for quite a shocker. But when you find those items, sometimes things you thought were lost; you get a sense of joy. It is this same joy in finding old friends. Friends you should have kept in touch with but never found the time to write or to call. Friends that would have been all but impossible to see or talk to until the next official reunion. There really is no picking up where you left off but after fifteen years the cliques and chest-beating has been put away and you discover something you thought you already knew: who that person was.

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