Facebook: Our Individual and Global Shout for Help

I long ago gave up the thought that pain builds character, and when people suggest it, I answer, "thanks but I have enough character." Yet, there is an elevation of our spirit, our empathy, our compassion when tragedy strikes. It's inevitable. We connect as humans because we feel the pain of others. We see ourselves, our child, our mother, our father under the rubble. No matter the color of a person's skin, dialect or difference in their culture, we sense the human suffering in the tragic pictures that flash across the news.   We feel their pain and we cry inside.

After September 11th and the Tsunami I marveled at the explosive compassion that flowed throughout the world in an instant wave. Today I see the same. Nations sending aid and money. Facebook postings rolling off the pages pleading for donations. Awareness of the suffering in Haiti is spreading virally.

I've often thought Facebook reflects the Two Faces of Eve, one of good and one of not so good. But when I see the power it has to bring the message of need to so many so fast, I thank God for this odd online chatter place.

I'm hopeful when I see social media bringing messages of charity, love and compassion out into the world.  Positive messaging towards others convinces me Facebook isn't just one rolling cyber cocktail party, bragging fest or trite popularity contest. Facebook as an extenstion of our individual and aggregrate social influence has the power to connect our sometimes disconnected friends in small ways, and to reach across global lines to help our suffering neighbors. 

Facebook is a force that seems to reflect our age old longing for attention, our urge to tell the world who we are, that we matter, what we need, and in that, Facebook has become, without ever intending to, our daily shout for help.