Sound the trumpet
And so this is the last edition for now as we turn toward the future with a degree of something or other. On the Y2K thing, we're expectant. Come the end of the year/decade/century/millennium we could see in the new year on the computer. But in terms of a nice night's entertainment, it has drawbacks. PC watching won't get you merry — if merrying is what you're after.
You're sure to go through the motions. A soiree perhaps? A raging party? A night out? If you go to bed you will be woken come midnight by noise. It's OK to stay up. You are allowed to take a drink. It's New Year, after all.
So what? I don't mean to be a party pooper, but what's there especially to get excited about? It's not as though we've got something to look forward to. I expect 2000 to be pretty much the same as this year. At midnight the 20th century is going to look pretty much like the 21st. I ask you: is that a good thing?
Don't get me wrong — I'm a boy of the moment, hip, with it, as contemporary as they come. As past centuries go, I reckon the 20th did OK by me. But where's the millennial pizazz? If I'm to witness the birth of a new century, I want a bit of excitement. I want promise. I want the trumpet to sound. I want it to be a special occasion — not just a lot of hype. Like it or not, January 1, 2000, is going to be the first day of the rest of our mortal lives. (At least for those who live that long. You never know, do you? Every day is a blessing, after all.)
For the rest of our mortal lives we're going to be stuck in the 21st century. You won't be offered a crack at the 22nd, you know. It's now or never. Think about it. And it's going to look pretty much the same as this year.
I don't know about you, but there are some things I didn't like about the 20th century. I'm sure you could make a list too. And these weren't minor irritations either. In some matters, the 20th century sucks. I'd like to say that, come midnight on the day in question, we could put all those bad things behind us and live on into the future the better for it.
But I'd be dreaming.
I'd like to say that, come midnight of the day in question, we could all learn from the past and in the future there would be no more war, famine or poverty.
But I'd be talking bullshit.
Why is that? Why must resolutions, made with the best of intentions, fail? You'd sign on the dotted line, wouldn't you? "No war? Sure. Put me down." And I bet billions of others would too.
You know what our problem is, don't you? You know what's wrong with the 20th century: it's caught up in the past. The problem with the 20th century is the dead hand of all past generations that drags it way way back in time. We can do such wondrous things — you and I — but we're frustrated, not by our inability to work together, but by being forced to live in the past. We've got 21st century capacity and promise, married to the small mind of ages gone by.
This century has outlived its usefulness. It's about time we fashioned another.
Dave Riley