Facebook has become the way to keep in touch with pretty much everyone that you have come into contact with in your life.  Family members, co-workers, your best friends, childhood friends, and old acquaintances.  You may only talk to about 10 or so people regularly on Facebook, but you know probably read a lot of people’s status updates, and gander at pictures that they post.  Some of you may have been sucked into games that you can play, like Farmville and Mafia Wars, while others like me use it to basically thump their chest about a teams success or complain about their failure.

The most common status updates on Facebook are usually in regards to one’s success in school, at work, becoming engaged, getting married or the birth of a child.  People allow others to enjoy their most happy moments in life.  It is cool to see people succeed in life.  Many of us have put away stupid high school disagreements and take joy in others having a good life.  It gives us hope that better days may be ahead for us.  But then there are others updates that we don’t necessarily anticipate and impact us a little differently.

I have an old high school acquaintance, that could be referred to as a friend when we were back at Bloomfield Hills Andover High School in the mid-90s. We “friended” one another on Facebook, even though we probably haven’t spoken to one another in at least 11 years.  Though both of us were athletes, we were never on the same teams in high school.   By the time we could have been on varsity baseball together, I had quit to give myself a break to enjoy life following football and a grueling swim season.  Oddly enough, though he was only one year behind me in high school, he was one of those kids that was youngest in his class and had a weird cut-off age for baseball.  So I actually umpired him when he was a freshman still playing Pony League baseball (13-14).  He played catcher, and I used to give him shit behind the plate.   We ran in similar circles in high school, and usually ended up at the same parties.  I can’t say for sure, but we probably shared a booth at The Village in West Bloomfield a few times.  Those days are still foggy to me.   But I do remember Ben being a pretty cool dude.  We always got along, and I never knew anyone that didn’t like the him.  He was well respected, and well-liked.

Reading his updates on Facebook the last year, seemed like things never changed. Seems like the same guy I knew back then. He loves sports, he loves Michigan State, and people still love him.  He has been married for what it seems like a few months, and is still living in Michigan.  I did see something about a leg injury and didn’t think much of it, and from what I can gather, neither did he at first.  But then all of a sudden over the last few weeks, I started seeing many messages on his wall from people telling him that they are thinking and praying for him.  I started to wonder if something happened to him or someone close to him, maybe a parent or his wife.  Could not find anything conclusive. Then this past weekend I saw that he put up a link to a blog that he created that not only explains what he is going through, but showing the courageous attitude that he has.

What Ben thought was just an simple injury playing a pickup game of basketball, turned out to be something completely different, and I encourage you to read his story, and offer up support to him and his family as they go through this difficult time.   I can’t imagine dealing with what he has to go through right now.  It makes you stop and just realize how quickly life can change.  We can either let it beat us down, or do something about it, and it looks like Ben won’t let it get him down.

My heart and prayers go out to Ben, to his wife, and to the rest of his family and close friends.  Hoping for a recovery, and for you to touch many lives with your story of inspiration and courage.

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