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[2000-01-01]
I've spent some time this evening (New Year's Eve 1999, and on into New Year's Early Morning 2000) watching parts of the 25-hour Millennium 2000 collection of television broadcasts from around the world on my local Public Broadcasting station, and it caused some thoughts to begin percolating to the surface in my humble brain, so i thought i'd write them down to share with folks.
In particular, there was a remark made by Gwen Ifel, one of the PBS hosts of the Millennium 2000 program, that (and i am certain to be paraphrasing here), with all these celebrations going on all over the world, "everyone" seemed to be able to join in; that we have so much in common, since we're all celebrating together, and that we're "one people united".
We're not.
Everyone doesn't love everybody else.
And war, poverty, world hunger, and the very real possibility of the irreversible destruction of the earth's ecosystem are not going to somehow magically go away, simply because it's the start of a new millennium.
Today is really just another day. This year is really just another year.
True, lots of folks have come together to celebrate. Lots of folks have probably danced, cheered, and sung with people they didn't know and had never seen before in their entire lives (and probably never will again).
But lots of other folks don't have enough to eat. Lots of other folks don't know where they're going to sleep tonight. Lots of folks live in countries overburdened with debt. Lots of folks suffer from AIDS and the accompanying cultural and societal stigmas.
This is not to say that we shouldn't celebrate.
We should. We survived the the twentieth century, in spite of two world wars, several virtual annihilations of entire peoples and ethnic groups, nuclear weapons, holes in the ozone layer, extinction of species, and numerous other results of human ignorance, selfishness, and shortsightedness.
But we still have a long way to go.
What will it take to achieve peace? How can we work to solve the real problems of poverty, hunger, and disease?
Here are some ideas:
If you're reading this article, you have electrical power. You have a computer, or access to one. You have access to one of the most comprehensive global communication networks this planet has ever had, one which allows 'regular' folks from all over the world to communicate almost instantly. Use those tools to work toward real and lasting peace.
You don't have to do something monumental. Even if you only affect the life of one person, it makes a difference.
I think it unlikely that human beings will ever become "one people united". But i think it's possible for us to become many people united, if we work toward real justice and lasting peace. Maybe even, eventually, many peoples united.
Then, we'll have a real celebration.
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