What was the most important event of the decade?
No doubt one of the most asked questions around the world as people gathered to ring out the old and welcome in the ‘10s.
And, no doubt, depending on where we live, what’s important to us, what we’re passionate about, what riles us, excites us, arouses our ire, inspires our ardor, causes us sorrow, brings us joy or just simply catches our imagination – our answers are all different, as personal and diverse as only what comes from within can possibly be….
It was hard to escape the writings and ruminations of the pundits who seemed obsessed by returning to that different world we lived in at the start of this century, when our biggest fear was Y2K – hard to imagine in retrospect the headlines of doom and destruction around that particular end of the world scenario – from the most prestigious publications and the most thoughtful writers – worth a BING – if only for the laugh and a reminder of how little the analysts get right….
So here we are – ten years later – Twitter and all – and it’s often hard to tell in all the change – what has really changed – or rather what has changed that really makes a difference…what do you think?
And, at the end of a year of turmoil and no small amount of global gloom – my cynical nature looks at a guy trying to murder his fellow passengers by blowing up his underwear as an ironic summation of a crazy and unsettled time.
And there you have it – the old is out and the new is in.
So where does that leave us – beyond longer lines at airports and wondering about seat mates who spend too much time in the lav?
Seems to me it’s all about what you consider “new” to mean and how we handle the “newness” of it all.
Listen:
Let us watch well our beginnings, and results will manage themselves. ~Alexander Clark
And there you have it – with the old out and the new in – it’s all about getting started – leaving the old behind, embracing the new and launching fresh, innovative and original thinking, actions and activities.
It’s all about creation – “In the Beginning….” Get it right at the start and all of our energy will be channeled into keeping it fresh and new as opposed to constantly fixing and repairing and coming from behind….
In fact I believe that is what this means – nothing manages itself – not really – but if we are cognizant that we can begin again – and do it – and keep doing it – well, my sense is that we will always be looking at new beginning – and what a place that is to be….
So here is to new beginnings – 365 days of them….
Your views?
Really? Worth a BING? Is Bing really that great? I wonder if Bing will be around much longer. I don’t particularly care for Bing, it seems to promise a lot but I haven’t seen it do much. I never was that excited about Wolphram Alpha either. Who knows, maybe they’ll fix their problems.
Long airport lines seem to have always been a problem. I remember them from the 80′s. O’Hare has pretty much always sucked. So, what’s new? The Internet is new. I think the Internet is still very new. I think all the promise of the internet is going to continue to be realized. That’s my hope anyway. I’m pollyannic when it comes to what the Internet can fix and do. So far, it’s done pretty well. If you compare the Internet with the auto industry, we’re probably going into the 1940′s from an evolution standpoint. Everyone having fast, always-on internet in their pocket is the major game changer.
Everyone, all over the world will have always on connectivity… we’re still getting used to globalization. Al Qaeda is probably growing pains from people with ancient views all around the world being subjected to western views, lifestyle, and technology.
Broadly speaking 9/11 was the most important event of the decade. We will feel its effects for many years to come.
In terms of marketing and advertising, the maturing internet (Web 2.0, search, social media) will be viewed in retrospect as the most profound. I suspect when we look back a generation or two from now it’ll be clear that the 00s were Don Draper’s last gasp.
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In my opinion this is very similar to the Evolution theory, lot of small and imperceptible steps that change our lives little by little.
But as social humans we try to look for important events that marked each of us in order to feel important or transcendent.
Reality is that if we go through history we will find that many unimportant events and other very important have had major impacts on our present and future. So as you say no end and no beginning, this a continuum of an evolving society where adults see “new” what kids see as “usual”.
I think Einstein theory of relativity is in this case seems applicable; the most important event would depend on the observer’s point of view. Roughly 6 billion observers, more than half don’t even know what the internet is or the twin towers.
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