This week it was discovered that a cemetery in Alsip, Illinois was digging up the bodies of deceased in order to resell the grave-plots. Within days, groups of people were gathered outside of the Cemetery office desperately trying to find out information on the whereabouts of their loved ones.

I imagine it’s horrifying to feel the last access you have to a loved one on earth is carelessly eliminated. Finality is an essential part of the human condition, but somehow our brains don’t accept it easily. Facebook, Twitter and other online social networking sites are realms where long lost playmates, schoolmates, co-workers and lovers track one another down, making the reality of an end to relationships even more remote. Those with a large amount of online connections may find there is not much room in their lives for these people anymore, at least for anything more than virtual connection. When these virtual connections die, will we preserve years of emails, text messages, and status updates as virtual headstones?

The glib statement you make today may become your virtual epitaph.

So please think before you write!