Social networking often gets mixed reviews. But here’s a story about it that makes me smile.
After tornadoes cut a wide swath of destruction across much of Alabama and five other southern states last week, a Facebook page was set up to reunite victims with their memorabilia—some of which was blown at least 150 miles away. Patty Bullion of northern Alabama founded the page, telling CNN, “When it [the storm] went over us, it literally just started raining pictures. We got parts of Bibles, hymnals. … I just started saying, ‘There are parts of people’s lives falling out of the sky.'”
It’s hard to pick up the pieces when you don’t know where the pieces are. So, while recovering part of a 50-year-old high school yearbook, a picture of a child wearing bunny pajamas or a love letter might seem like small comfort in the face of what is otherwise total loss, it can help. The page, in fact, has become much more than a lost-and-found site. It’s developed into a place for users to send encouraging messages, offer condolences and even coordinate relief efforts.
One storm victim found a picture of her mother on the page. She posted, “I have e-mailed the wonderful woman who posted it. Thank you, thank you thank you and please keep posting.” Another woman wrote, “This page is truly a God sent [sic]. Houses, buildings, material things can always be rebuilt and replaced, but some things like photos of family that have passed cannot.” Because her father died when she was young and her photos are all she has of him, she understood the priceless gift of returning pictures to storm victims.
Though I’m not personally involved or affected, I too say “thank you thank you thank you” to wonderful Facebook users who care and make the effort to reunite others with cherished pieces of their pasts.
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