The Aughts

This doesn't have anything to do with my going to London, but it's a monumental event and deserves mention....

It's almost 2010!  I stupidly didn't realize it to be the end of a decade until I saw the ubiquitous end-of-year magazines, particularly one heralding the 2000's to be [dun dun dun] THE DECADE FROM HELL.

"Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end, the first 10 years of this century will very likely go down as the most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post-World War II era.  Call it the Decade from Hell, or the Reckoning, or the Decade of Broken Dreams, or the Lost Decade.  Call it whatever you want - just give thanks that it is nearly over."

-- TIME, November 24, 2009

I was really sad when I read that.  Sure, this decade has been plagued by bad stuff, and I don't want to deny the terribleness of 9/11 or war or disease or financial trouble....  Okay, it's been a pretty bad ten years.  But, the 2000's recap has been so bleak everywhere.  I am personally offended and upset that people claim that these years in which I grew up were so horrendous.  I resent the fact that history books will look upon these years as the "Decade of Broken Dreams".  Melodramatic much?  Why do people only want to remember the bad things?  I prefer to be more optimistic, but maybe that's because that's just my personality.  I hate when the media bashes things incessantly (except, say, Sarah Palin; she deserves it, and Tina Fey is epic...); why can't they also discuss even in the slightest the good things that happened this decade?  Not even one nice event?  Just think: whenever a door closes, a window opens.  I hope I am neither naive nor alone in thinking this. 

Okay, if the world had no happy, felicitous events in the past ten years, maybe I'll just recap some of mine.

- I graduated from elementary school, junior high school (as valedictorian!), and high school.
- I aged 10 years, in a good way.  I'm nearly 20 years old now, and I've learned so much in these years.  (Gosh, I'd hope so; if not, I'd still have the mind and mentality of a 9-year-old.)
- I learned to appreciate my family and everything I have.
- I made some great friends.
- I started college.
- I went to Florence (this topic deserves its own tome); I'm planning a whirlwind trip to Europe currently.

Eh.  I didn't mean to pat myself on the back for the past ten years in this post.  But I wanted to express how depressingly the media illustrated the start of this century.  Certainly, something good must have happened, and I firmly believe good things will happen in the next ten years too.

My yearbook quote, cheesy as it was:

"Believe in your heart that something wonderful is about to happen."

(Apparently my high school yearbook is full of deep philosophy.  I was unaware of this until now.)

Smile.  Celebrate.  Happy new year.  Cheers!