Of condolences and templatized greetings

Whenever I see a Facebook friend change his/her profile picture into a black background with a candle at the center, I would always pause for a moment and try to find out what happened. Has a loved one died in the family? Was there a tragic event happened that called for the change in background? Has a pet animal passed away? Is the person observing the National Day of Mourning? Without any word or descriptor from the one who posted, Facebook friends have no choice but to take it as it is. Following this are the comments that express condolences such as, “May he Rest in Peace”, “Condolence to the Bereaved Family”, etc. It is quite automatic for others to immediately jump into the bandwagon of extending condolences just because of a black background.

What if the person is just doing a prank on all of us or playing the greatest joke of all time? For sure everyone must have fallen into the trap of deception at least once. I might be very meticulous about it but I just want to make sure that I offered sympathy correctly because what was conveyed about one’s life’s event was true. After verifying what the real event was and clarifying that someone has indeed gone to the afterlife, then I would not hesitate to express my sincere condolences. Or better yet I will include the deceased in my Mass intention, because the truth is somebody who is precious to the person who changed his/her profile picture has indeed died.

Another thing that always caught my attention is an image of a “cheerful avatar” posted on my friend’s Facebook page. As usual this causes a stir to the unsuspecting common friends who would then automatically post a congratulatory message. One thing funny is a comment like, “Congratulations, whatever that is!” I just could not imagine myself congratulating someone though I do not even know what I am congratulating about. Has somebody graduated with a degree, passed a licensure examination, won a lottery jackpot or even received the much-awaited marriage proposal? We would never know, only the person who posted it knows the reason for the cheerful avatar. Again, my mind played with the question about. What if this is just a prank? I might fall for another trick.

There is nothing wrong with extending condolences and even congratulatory messages. But again, I believe that not everything in social media has to be believed outright. We have to have an analyzing mind, further inquiring from our friends what the real score is, since we do not have a hold on what is real and unreal in social media.

In this social media generation, a handwritten note or a card greeting has already been overshadowed by greetings which nowadays has become “templatized” and mechanical. One has just to click the appropriate template button and there you are already greeting for your friends and relatives on special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, and festivals. This is an expected social behavior for all of us that we are sometimes easily carried away. My Facebook friend has clicked the Merry Christmas greeting, I might as well do the same. The occasional holiday fever has somehow compelled us to take to social media our well-wishing to everyone during the many celebrations and festivals: Independence Day, Eid’l Adha, Christmas, or Earth Day, or sometimes, we also create our own social events that require expressions of solidarity online.