well here I sit, on the couch, last day of the decade, what was I thinking when I was 5 years old on December 31st, 1999, I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you what I’m thinking right now, December 31st, 2009, so here we go:
Wow, its difficult to characterize this decade, it wasn’t grunge in the 90’s, it wasn’t disco in the 70’s, it wasn’t the hippie 60’s, it wasn’t the doo-op 50’s, it wasn’t the greatest generation 40’s, it wasn’t the great depression 30’s, and it wasn’t the roaring 20’s.
I truthfully don’t know what to call it, but I can tell you what happened
Well we got off to a bad start, the florida election disaster and Bush: I don’t remember much here, but zi do remember just waiting forever to find out who won, which pissed me off.
then 9-11: I remember this day vividly, as I’m sure most of you do, second grade, all the teachers met in the hallway, and I remember thinking something was up, my teacher then procieded to tell us, “something bad has happened in New York and Washington” she then left the room again, and we all speculated. in our nieveness, most kids thought it was washington state, but I knew it was D.C. somehow in my gut. That was all the news I got that day, and I was pissed. My parents made the decision not to pick me up from school that day. So I was itching to know more so I had to, “go to the bathroom” every hour, just so I could go watch the tv that was tuned to CNN in the other room, the only visual I remember is one tower standing on fire, that was it. Then I went home, and watched the news coverage, and then I went to bed, that was it.
then afganistan: I just remember sitting on my bed, watching the first air raid,
then Iraq: I admit, I fell for the propoganda, the sadaam statue falling, the mission accomplished sign on the aircraft carrier, but then I realized why we were there, and that we didn’t find what we were looking for, but we’re still there, thats what I don’t get.
Bush again: I was pissed, really pissed, thats all.
Katrina: from the view of an outsider, we prayed for, ” the victims and those effected by hurricane Katrina” every day at my catholic school, and it struck me the other day, I was praying for my now friends, and everybody I know down here. I saw the pictures on TV, I saw people screaming help us and crying in front of the television, I still say it’s a manmade disaster, not a natural one, katrina helped, but it was the levees built by man that failed, and flooded the city, and it was man who failed to respond for 3 days after the storm, I will never forget the images of people dead in the streets, for 3 days in 2005, new orleans was a third world country, the one thing that got me though was a woman standing on a rooftop waiting to get rescued holding a cardboard sign that said, ” I am an american”. However the turnaround of this city has been simply amazing, just go read that espn article I linked a week or two ago, it explains everything I feel
Virginia Tech- the main thing I remember is the uproar at my school in saint louis, it happened at like 9 am,and we were told absolutely nothing, it pissed me, and the rest of the school off.
Obama- I believed in everything in his campaign, hope, change, the whole shindig, every bit of beautiful rhetoric he spoke, and what can I say, he is getting it done.
now for 2009:
miracle on the hudson- just wow
Barack’s innauguration- wooooooooooo!
H1N1- this was sort of scary, but also I feel like a bit of a fluke,
Iran- I applaud the citizens for standing up and saying something
MJ- I was in just complete shock, just wow, I couldn’t believe it, then the memorial service, that was beautiful, Usher was great, Al Sharpton’s speech, “Your daddy was not strange, what he had to deal with was strange” ” That same generation that micheal taught that it was ok to be different and to love, is the generation that grew up to elect the first black president of the united states of america”
Bernie Madoff- how did he get away with this? who knows
Ted Kennedy- just flat out sad
Obama wins Nobel peace prize- now Obama’s my boy, but even I disagree with this one
Fort Hood- terrible, I think it raised good questions thoughvabout terrorist groups potentially attacking from the inside, I was sick, out of school this day so I got to watch it all unfold.
Tiger- C’mon man, not cool, some of the jokes were priceless though “18 holes not enough tiger, I too slept with tiger woods, unlike santa, 3 ho’s weren’t enough for tiger” he’s still the perfect golfer, just not the perfect man.
Christmas day terror attempt- we almost made it to the end of the decade without another terror attack, and I guess we technically did, but TSA has to rethink screenings again, which I guess is a good thing.
Huge thank you to everybody who got me through this year and this decade, with moving and everything.
2019- who the hell knows, but I’ll be 25, theres a scary thought
Thank you again for everything and I’ll see you in the next decade
