By Kenia Cris
Image by Motoharu Iijima
A whole generation of children in the 80’s pictured future as seen in The Jetsons: flying cars, robots, aliens, holograms, high-tech appliances. Common adult fears then, were related to the depletion of oil, the development of nuclear mass destruction weapons and the belief the world would end in the year 2000.
Mankind survived the year 2000 and now reaches the end of its decade. We saw terrorist attacks, suicide bombing, the beginning and the end of wars, the sequencing of human genome, tsunami, hurricanes, earthquakes, three Olympic Games, the election of new presidents, Pluto demoted to the status of dwarf planet, the explosion of the Internet and the fast growth of social networking, we mourned a Pope and a Pop star, we witnessed 33 men trapped 700 meters underground being brought back to surface after surviving 69 days, worldwide efforts to improve environmental awareness and consequently life in the planet for generations to come.
Less than a week to the end of a decade, ‘year in review’ programs popping up on TV, how will you remember the year 2010? Who did you meet? What did you get for your last birthday? Did you attend someone’s burial? How many letters did you write? Who did you hold the elevator door to? Which breath-taking places did you visit? How much time did you spend with your family and friends? Who made you laugh? Who made you cry? Which songs did you sing in a traffic jam, in the bank line, in the shower? Who did you offer a helping hand to?
How many times did you go to the movies? What movies did you see? Who did you go out with? Did you take pictures of all your best moments? Did you write poems, short stories, articles? Were you gentle, caring, attentive to the others and to yourself all the time? Did you apologize? How many people smiled at you? Were you committed to your work? Did you reach your dreams and goals? Whatever your answer to each of these questions is, you do as the Gallagher brothers sing: don’t look back in anger.
“He who is not afraid
of stepping ahead,
cannot be afraid of
stepping back a pace or two.
One retreats to see further ahead,
to adjust the feet to the new path
and then restart walking his journey.”
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