Not With A Bang, But A Whimper

I don't know what game we are playing, how much time is left, or who to cheer for, but I can assure you that the score at the end of this decade is....

• STUPIDITY 16
• HUMANITY  3

At the outset of this decade Bill Clinton was presiding over the greatest economic expansion in history, global warming (sorry, "climate change") was still an issue that could possibly be defeated by decisive and unified action, and terrorism was something that happened in other countries to other people.

Things were going so well , that I even pondered the idea that Canada might stop criminalizing people who smoke pot on the heels of allowing gay marriage. Alas, it was not to be.

The man who defined this decade is George W. Bush, because he laid bare to all the differences between the haves and the have nots. He did not create this gap, but he exemplified it.

As the decade draws to a close, I am increasingly astounded by the tremendous opportunities that we have to communicate with one another, yet dismayed by our lack of anything to say.

Of course the event of the decade is the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. That day truly ushered in a new era that defines our society to this day. Even today it was announced that I will no longer be allowed to take a carry on bag on a flight to America. In addition, another Canadian soldier died in Afghanistan.

Two announcements, one trivial, the other monumental, yet both connected to September 11th, 2001. Historians record era's by events, not dates, and they will forever remember 911 as the day that the 21st century began.

While people have been saying since the beginning of time that "The End Is Near" I have a palpable sense that the next ten years are going to be very brutal and contentious as increasing consumptive and environmental pressures continue to take their toll on the planet.

Make no mistake, my little candle of hope is alive, but it burns nowhere near as brightly as it did when the decade began. It appears to me that we have a lot of work ahead of us and that even the most monumental effort may not be enough.

Other than that, everything is perfect.

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