In 2001, when Islamic terrorists attacked America, I was frantic for two days trying to get in touch with friends who worked in the area of the World Trade Center. Some worked on Rector Street, less than two blocks from WTC. Others worked near Wall Street less than a mile away.
None of my friends were hurt in the attacks, but for two days I had no way of knowing that.
Currently, I have friends in Brussels. When I heard of the attacks on Brussels, I did not even try to make the futile phone calls I made on September 11, 2001, I got on Facebook. Within an hour, the first of my friends updated her page to say that she and her entire family were fine and that she was going to her son's house to see her granddaughter.
In November, I did the same with the Paris attacks. Although phone service was swamped with traffic, several friends updated their pages. One of my friends was SCUBA diving in Turkey. I remembered thinking when Cedric when to Turkey that the trip could be dangerous. When I say his SCUBA update on November 15, I was thinking 'I'm glad he decided to leave Paris in November.'
Thanks Mark Zuckerberg. I love your invention.
