A Farewell to a Decade

This writing takes place at 12-28-09 - 1:20 PM - Approximately 58 hours, 40 minutes from 2010, a new decade.

The newest decade of our lives. A welcomed decade when compared to the decade we'll be leaving; a decade filled with ups, downs and then downs again. In other words, a decade filled with more downs than ups but one that we survived anyway. We, the households; the towns; the cities and states of this country. We, the people of the United States of America. We, the people of the free world. We, the people of the greater Earth community.

Yes, We survived the 2000 decade and look forward with renewed hope to the 2010 decade which we define as new simply because that is the word used to describe something, someone or some place that we haven't had any previous experience with; and we dare not look backwards at the old in an attempt to define what is yet to come, except as a method of educating ourselves of what a decade resembles and what our expectations are for a new one.

Our hopes and aspirations for a new decade that is better than the old one will be rewarded only by the elimination of some events that defined the 2000 - 2009 era. Effects of the most recent recession in our nation's history are still evident and will probably be with us for the coming weeks and months, but other events from the old decade which could be used help us prepare for the new one are listed below.

There is no particular order except Ups & Downs or Indifferent as it were:

Down   The implosion of our lending/banking institutions
Down   The attempted explosion of an American airline
Down   The USS Cole was attacked
Up    The State of New York elected Hillary Clinton Senator
U/D/I   The Supreme Court ruled George W. Bush president of the US
U/D/I   The largest Tax cut in our nation's history bacame a reality
Down   The devastating attack of 9-11 on American soil
Down   The US and Great Britain attacked Afghanistan
Down   The Anthrax attack scare starts a panic among US citizens
Down   The Enron Corporation declared bankruptcy
Down   The US Congress authorizes force against Iraq
Down   The Airlines known as United Airlines declared bankruptcy
Down   The Shuttle Columbia exploded on reentry to atmosphere
Down   The US launched attack against Iraq
Down   The Northeast blackout; largest in US history
Down   The Abu Ghraib photos published on US networks
Up   The 9-11 Commission to investigate terror attacks
U/D/I   The incumbent, President George W. Bush was reelected
Up    The first Hispanic Mayor elected in Los Angeles
Down   The Gulf Coast hit by Hurricane Katrina
Up    The Supreme Court rejected Bush Administration positions
Up    The purchase of Time Warner by AOL
Up    The nomination of Barack Obama by the Democrats
Up    The inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the US
Down   The declaration of bankruptcy by General motors
Down   The Afghanistan troop surge announced by President Obama
Up   "Google" declared Word of the decade

Some of the events above were obtained from History Central and are presented in support of historical and factual data contained in 'Say Goodbye to a decade'. Whether or not you can grab hold of some memories which you will share with loved ones in years to come can only be decided by your own unique experiences from the expiring decade, but one thing is for sure: The events of the period from January 1, 2000 12:01 AM to December 31, 2009 11:59 PM will never return in the manner that they were visited upon us, and some we hope will never return in any fashion. For they're old and we look to the new. Hello 2010! And Welcome!

A Personal Note:

I have been a part of the human family for over five decades - actually closer to six - and the first four were spent growing up, maturing and establishing a decent future for my family in the professional sales field. That future was beginning to take the form I had envisioned by the end of last decade - 1999 - and the new decade held promise just as the coming decade does.

When those planes struck the twin towers on 9-11-2001 and caused them to collapse and fall to the ground, that promise of a new decade seemed to have disappeared in plumes of smoke and beneath all the rubble that resulted from the destruction. Although I didn't sustain personal family tragedies, I felt the loss in many other ways. The ensuing weeks and months the nation underwent one adjustment after the other in an attempt to 'bounce back' and maintain our image as a proud and just leader of the free world while installing new and improved security systems to defend against an unseen enemy, and as the years passed there was an unspoken uneasiness which existed among our citizens that something about us had changed very significantly, a change that stayed with us and is still evident as we go about our daily activities at home and at work.

My personal adjustment was the necessary pursuit of an education in computer use and a discovery of the internet in a manner that has permitted me to perform my duties more efficiently and with less travel, so for that I can say thanks to the many people and companies that provided assistance and who I hope to work with for years to come. People I met sometime in the 2000 (Y2K) decade. Decent people; Resilient people full of hope and aspirations. MMX is upon us. Y2K is over.

Tony Javeton Phillips 

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