Time magazine calls the time between 2000-2009 the “Decade from Hell.”
I don’t think that’s a totally fair assessment.
To be sure, the last ten years have seen momentous and tumultuous change.
There were terrorist attacks, wars, economic meltdowns, and natural disasters. We also saw people reach out and help those in time of need. Tough times can bring out the best in people.
To be sure, this decade was a tough one, but what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.
For me personally, the decade had its challenges and its high points.
I’ve learned countless life lessons over the past ten years-- one of which is: “Change is constant and mandatory. Growth is optional.”
Now, as I sit here reflecting on the last ten years, older and (hopefully) wiser, this Charles Dickens quote makes so much more sense to me now than it did when I read it in high school:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times;
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness;
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity;
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness;
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair;
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us;
we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.
The decade in which my father passed away also saw the birth of my son.
In the same decade that I nearly died on 9/11, I met and married the most wonderful woman in the world.
Prior to this decade, I had lived in or near New York City my entire life. In 2000, I was eager to get out and see the world. Since then, I’ve left my hometown to live in places as varied as Frankfurt, Germany, Richmond, VA , and Washington DC.
The last ten years have been more tragically messy and fantastically awesome than I could have imagined in 1999, proving that making a omlette requires a few broken eggs.
Tonight, on the eve of a new decade, I enter it ten years wiser, now as a husband and a father, and I can’t help but wonder what the future holds.
Happy New Year, everyone!
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