Don't Mess With My Facebook

I’ve been reading Mitch Albom for years. Always enjoyed his stuff and look forward to the Sunday Free Press just to read his column. In todays column Mitch wrote of a number of things that he’d like to see happen in 2010. One of the lines he wrote was “Bye bye Facebook”. Well, if you know me at all, you know I just can’t sit and let that go without comment. I just sent an email to Mitch Albom about this and I’m just going to copy it here.

Hi Mitch,

First off, let me say, I'm a huge fan. I've enjoyed your writing for years and have written to you in the past. I even received a reply to an email I sent a few years ago and I found that to be very nice. I met you at a Best Buy a year ago this past summer and you were quite generous with your time as we spoke about that evenings "Police" concert. Again, I'm a big fan and read your column on a regular basis.

I feel the need to comment on today's column. I must say I agreed with all but one line. "Bye bye Facebook". I need to tell you, Facebook has changed my life only for the better and, if you have the time, I'd like to tell you how and why.

I grew up in the Detroit area and left Michigan in 1980. I lived in Southern Ca. for 25 years and, after my divorce, moved to Naples Florida. I was alone and had few friends, not being one to frequent bars and clubs, it's been a common theme throughout my life. After a couple years down there I decided to move back to Michigan to be closer to family.

After a number of months working in the homebuilding business I received an email from friend in Spain asking me to join her on Facebook. I did it just for laughs and we would converse on it every once in awhile. After a number of months I deactivated the account and thought nothing of it.

A short while after that I got an email from a friend saying they had been looking for me on Facebook and couldn't find me. I reactivated the account and connected with this friend. I then started looking for any name from my past and found many people from my high school that I hadn't seen since graduation. As the site grew more popular, the number of people from my past that I was in contact with grew with it.

Never having been one to go out much, I would always spend evenings home alone. Having reconnected with this group of people I began to socialize on a regular basis. Facebook is responsible for that. There is no way I would have been able to reconnect with all these people had it not been for this site. Just the other night I went to a New Years party at a friends house that I never even spoke to in high school but, again, because of Facebook we have become rather close friends.

My 30'th high school reunion was held this past November. Facebook, again, played a major role in not only getting everyone together but in keeping me in contact with all these people that I have developed a fondness for that I've felt for very few in my life. Again, without Facebook, none of this would have happened.

I've reconnected with a friend from my youth that moved to Australia, wouldn't have happened without Facebook. I go out for dinner on a regular basis with folks that I never would have found had it not been for Facebook. Suffice it to say Mitch, to paraphrase Chico Esquela, Facebook been bery bery good to me. I know of at least 200 others in my circle that would agree with me on that.

I stated at the beginning of this note that Facebook has changed my life. It has in so many ways with each being better than the other. I owe that kid that started this site more thanks than I could ever give. I owe him the debt of helping me find happiness in a life that always had a hard time locating it. No, Facebook isn't the only reason for said happiness, but it was the agent of change that encouraged it more than anything else and I will defend this site forever because of that.

Thank for listening Mitch,

Kevin Mittleman