It's so convenient nowadays that we have Facebook. When you meet someone new, all you need to do is get his or her name and look it up on Facebook. Whether you talk to this 'friend' often or not, you'll always have him or her on your contact list.
When I was in elementary school, there was no such thing as Facebook. I don't know which year emails were first used, but I created my first email account in 1999. That was after I moved to Canada. Before leaving Korea, I was just starting to learn how to use a computer. I wasn't aware of emails at the time. I wanted to keep in touch with my friends in Korea, but it wasn't as simple as it is now. I didn't have a phone number or address to give to my friends. I didn't have an email either. All I could do was to get my friends' address so I can write a letter to them, or get a phone number to call. Because letters take a long delivery time, I couldn't write that often. As I got older, it got harder to keep in touch with my friends because we were all busy with school, pursuing after each of our ambitious dreams. Slowly, I lost connection with many of my childhood friends from Korea.
Now that it's been more than 10 years since I've left Korea, I don't even recall that many names from elementary school. Sadly, I only remember a handful of names in my grade 5 class. One by one, I searched their names on Facebook. Some of them, I couldn't tell whether they are my friends or not because the profile pictures aren't clear enough. Others, I'm certain that I know them - surprisingly, they haven't changed at all. Yet, I'm hesitant because I'm scared that they may not remember me. To me, these friends that I've been searching for - they are my last childhood memory from Korea. They are a part of my special memory. Because of this reason, I'm very much attached to my grade 5 class and its reminiscences. Although I grew up, it feels like my friends in Korea never grew up, because I haven't seen them since when we were in grade 5. It might sound weird, but in my mind, they were and they still are in the image of twelve year old kids. And because they have all grown up together, they probably won't have the same perception that I have. They're most likely not attached to the memories from grade five. What I find special may not be special to someone else.
On one hand, I was happy to see some familiar faces on Facebook. However, because of the above reason, I was hesitant to message my friends. When I found one friend that I was close with, I took some courage and messaged her. This happened about a week ago. I didn't hear any response back and I was disappointed thinking I've been forgotten. Well, it turns out she actually remembers me! Just yesterday, she messaged me saying that she remembers me. I was so happy! I am thankful that I'm able to find my old friends. I hope to find some more and perhaps one day, we can all meet and recollect our childhood memories together. Wouldn't that be fun?
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