Optimists Unite! Now!

Like, really.

Two Fridays ago, I bumped into someone who I thought to be a long lost friend. Turned out, however, that it wasn’t him, it was his brother – as in identical twin brother. We had our fair share of chatter – I guess that in some cultures it’s called gossip – and it turned out that his brother, the one I knew before, has a girlfriend. Which is always good news.

Almost simultaneously, I was sipping a latte and discussing politics, football and Italians with Saša at our local Starbucks when we decided to call up on an old friend of ours. She and I have been on each other’s wavelength ever since we met in 1993, but business – nasty careers in law – has meant that we’ve reduced our contact to the eventual sms and/or coffee. These are enough to fill each other in on the latest gossip – or so I thought. Turns out, Ms A. (privacy appreciated!) has a boyfriend, too. He’s Austrian. We – Saša and me – would have the privileged opportunity to meet him sometime soon. Which, too, is good news.

I asked Mr. Identical Twin Brother if he was on Facebook. He was, just like his brother. I “befriended” them both, a neat little note appeared in my profile and it turned out, well, that well, our two random lovebirds were, actually, a couple. I’m always inclined to think that the world really is a small place, but it’s more than just that. I have a great friend in Poland who used to say – and I suppose he still does – that “the world is a handkerchief”. You can, basically, fit it into your pocket. In the small city of Vienna, in the small country of Austria, somewhere on this small planet of ours, my Maid-of-Honor-to-be is happily in love with my old college buddy who, incidentally, is also the brother of my fellow congregant.

If this gets any more wicked, I wouldn’t be surprised if they both turn out to be my cousins (like, who knows), and thus inelligible to marry  (*Note: they won’t. No worries. I’ve kinda double-checked.)

I recently heard from an old Spanish friend – I still have to write back to him – who had recently started working for the Spanish Foreign Ministry, played host to the Bosnian delegation at a summit, and ended up chatting with the Bosnian Foreign Minister about an unlikely acquaintance of both: me. Bosnia is a small country at first sight, Spain not necesasrily, but think twice about the small world phenomenon and the phrase ‘global village’ really starts making sense.

Yesterday, I looked up a cousin of mine on Facebook – he’s 16, he lives in the States, he has to be on Facebook – and I ended up chatting with his parents, both of whom I haven’t seen since 2004. My uncle’s tennis buddy is my aunt’s cousin – nothing special in itself – but that very same cousin is married, in the States, to the sister of my boss here in Austria. And my boss also knew my former boss – one here in Austria, the other in Bosnia – and thus also knew the kind of things I can do and love doing.

If I’m entitled to one complicated thought every morning, than it must be this one. Like, are these cases just silly random instances? Divine will? “Intelligent networking by a group of people with similiar affinities”? Or a combination of all three? Whatever it is, it’s just wow. I’ve been living under that wow effect for at least the past three years and ever since I got Facebook, I’ve realized that the world isn’t getting smaller, it’s just getting easier to grasp. And that’s just the way I like it.