Have We Grown Up Yet?

New Year’s Eve will soon be upon us. The Millennium is now 20 years old. It is old enough to hold a job, drink, take out a loan, buy a car, enter into a contract, join the military, buy cigarettes, get married, get divorced and pay alimony/child support. Yes our new century is an adult. Or is it? Quite frankly it reminds me of a petulant teenager.

I remember 1999 very well. I had a new born baby (January 3) and Prince’s “Party Like It’s 1999” had reemerged and was very popular. There was an air of expectation for both the amazing and the dire. My husband was toiling fearlessly on the Y2K project so the bank he worked for wouldn’t crash on 01/01/00. The air was pregnant with hopes and fears. It was going to be amazing. It was going to be the end of the world. It was going to be something. It was destiny.

As the clocked ticked to Midnight on 31 December 1999, the world didn’t so much as hold its breath but rather tuned in to every TV station so they could to watch each part of the world explode in joy and fireworks as the New Millennium was born again and again. I watched the fireworks displayed on the bridge in Sydney, Australia and the riot of colour in the night sky from Moscow, Vienna, Rome, Paris and then London. Later is was New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu and the far Pacific Islands. It was amazing as the world celebrated this birth of a new time. I felt very lucky and blessed and honoured to be able to be part of this world. For the first time in a very long time there felt like there was Hope – hope for a better future, hope for a better life, hope for our children and our planet. It was a John Lennon song come true.

So our Baby Millennium began to grow. People across the globe tried to reach out to each other during those first few magical … months. Then reality checked in. The Chechen War reignited. The Colombians kicked off again, while both the Sri Lanka and Nepal had civil wars. Tensions were building and it all culminated in 9/11. September 11, 2001 was the day that some clever clog felt it was right to punch the USA in the eye. It began a war which to this day, 19 years later, is not finished much less won. Instead of bringing the United States and the Western World to collapse, it actually strengthened it, and has caused 34 new conflicts which has resulted in millions to be killed. It created division. That division is still here and only getting bigger.

Yet we were still filled with hope. People tried to be kinder to each other (when they weren’t killing each other). There was a sense in the Western World that old grievances were just that – old. It was a time for forgiving. We wanted to be nice to each other and try to work together to build a new, fair, and beautiful society. It was to be one where colour, race, gender, ethnicity, beliefs were to be respected and not oppressed. There was a gentleness to it all. The most wonderful and fruitful moment for this new optimism came with the election of the Barack Obama to the US Presidency. A black man was in the White House. America had finally overcome her dark past and proved she was what she always promised – a land for all peoples with opportunity for all. Baby Millennium was growing up to be a very nice 8 year old child.

Unfortunately, our 8 year old Baby grew older. As she became a tween-ager, she started to be less nice. Wars were becoming nastier and terrorism became commonplace. In fact the world no longer really had set-piece wars, but an on-going, unending stream of violence against an unarmed and unprepared populace. People on the street wanted to live in peace, but extremists and factions didn’t want that. It is now the practice that to change people’s minds about their government or religion, one simply has to blow them up or mow them down regularly. Like an irritating adult-child, people began to think it was okay to stamp their feet and cry "unfair" when they were not happy.

Our Milli, as she now likes to be called, proved what a teenage she could be. She liked to divide people and declared who would be the Cool Kids and who would be the Deplorables. The Cool Kids declared regularly that they were all for inclusion and love – as long as it was on their terms. The Deplorables lashed out at being ignored and unwanted – their world was deemed frightening and depraved. The Cool Kids found dynamic topics that everyone should be concerned about – global warming & climate change, economic inequality, refugees and immigrants – and insisted that those become the only issues of importance. As they partied at conferences and held large rallies, The Cool Kids insisted that they knew the solutions – solutions which required The Deplorables to pay for them. The Cool Kids failed to see how their evident hypocrisy was infuriating the The Deplorables. They were completely blindsided when The Deplorables banded together to fight them. As Milli giggled, twirled her hair and wore too much make-up, her society began to fall apart.

Milli is now coming to her 20^th birthday. She should be past her petulant teenage days, but I fear she is not. She is enjoying being one of the bitchy society girls, one of the mean girls. She says she is all for love, but it you fail to meet her definition of love, then you will feel her wrath. She is defiantly standing on the moral high ground to which she may not be entitled to hold. Milli is controlled and defined by The Cool Kids and this could end most tragically.

Milli’s Society should not be of two parts. It should be inclusive but it should not be one that panders. A strong society is one where the majority are happy with where they fit in and what the beliefs are. A strong society is one where The Cool Kids listen to The Less Cool Kids and no one is a Deplorable. Milli’s Society is now splintering. Her confusion is rapidly becoming a multiple personality syndrome where everything is said and nothing is truly meant. Milli’s Society is rapidly becoming one of quick point scoring, fast returns and an engorging number “Likes”. Hate, dressed as an all inclusive Love, is seeking to run the show.

Nastiness and vulgarity are common and, sadly, expected. Milli’s Society is exhibiting the same behaviour that my 17 year old son has, but at least he can be taught, directed, and if necessary grounded. Milli is lacking parental control. Her parents, that would be those us who are still alive and were adults 2 decades ago, have abrogated our responsibility. We have become self-centred. We want what we want and to the devil with anyone else. We think we are all Cool Kids without embracing that with makes us deplorable. As we fracture into smaller and smaller groups, each desiring power and hating all others, we are in fact killing our child.

Those of us who watched the birth of Milli, our Baby Millennium, need to take responsibility of where she is going and what she is doing. Our Millennium could be one of peace, but that means we need to listen with an open heart. Our Millennium could be one of respect, but that means we need to accept differences but not pander to them. Our Millennium could be one of positive change, but that means taking responsibility for our lives and our habitat. Our Millennium could be one of discernment, but that means we must use a rational judgement rather than emotional outburst. Our Millennium could be one of forgiveness, but that means we accept our sins and do not pass them on to others. Our Millennium could be one of unity, but that means looking for that which draws us together rather that than which separates us.

Our Millennium could be one of Hope and Love, but that means we all have to act in a way of peace, respect, discernment, forgiveness, unity and positive change. Our society, Our Millennium is Our Responsibility.