To Facebook Or Not To Facebook -- That Is the Question

But actually, there's no question about it. Yes, it is a time vacuum, yes it is frequently fairly shallow contact, but some really cool things can be facilitated by Facebook. Here's what happened:

Yesterday a young (F)friend's status update stated that he was going out to check the neighborhood garage sales for a bike. Reading that, I sent him a message telling him that we had some salvaged, but stalwart bicycles sitting in our garage if his shopping proved fruitless. Sometime in the afternoon he popped up in a chat window on Facebook, asking about the bikes. I invited him to come check them out. He came over yesterday evening while we were out, selected a bike and took it home.

This morning he showed up after Meeting, hands covered in grease and grime, to settle up on a price. He said he had been attending Meeting for Worship with Attention to Bicycle Repair, and had happily ridden his new bicycle over to the Meetinghouse. It's probably a pretty decent bike -- an older American-made (which in all likelihood means Wisconsin-made) 10-speed Trek touring bike. I'm happy to see it go to a good home, after rescuing it from a trip to a landfill.

As you might expect, I drive a hard bargain. "It's a graduation gift, Martin!" I said, and then added that if he wanted to donate some money to AFSC (American Friends' Service Committee) or another worthy cause, he could do so. I was rewarded with a very sweet smile. It makes me smile just to think of it.

So there you have it. Sure, it could have happened without Facebook, but that would have required Martin or his mom to come to Meeting and announce that he was looking for a bicycle or submit it to the weekly announcements, etc. etc. This way it was all so serendipitous. Community at work, facilitated by Facebook. Cool.