It was 1999 when the world, for some, was apparently supposed to come to an end. Christians had something to be scared about. There was the Y2K scare, the apocalypse that never came to be.
We just came to the close of the year 2010, an end to the first decade of the new millennium and of course the 21st century.
The world did not end. Instead, the digital era accelerated as we plunged headlong from landlines to cell phones, from walkmans to iPods, from personal computers to laptops, from long players and tape decks to CDs and DVDs.
We have continued to undergo a technological revolution at a pace unmatched before in history. Some things changed for the better, others for the worst. For example the elements grew angrier, the climate worsening, global warming making its presence felt in a torrid way.
On September 9th 2001, the world got a rude awakening when the World Trade Center was brought down in a terrorist act that was to spark off a chain reaction of wars and religious turmoil.
“I never thought I would live to see the day when the World Trade Centre pass me by in a dump truck,” the New York Times quoted a dazed New Yorker saying, as he stood amid the rubble.
This was the same year that the name Osama Bin Laden became feared, and today he somewhat retains a status that goes beyond the iconic, helped by America’s preoccupation with getting him the Saddam way.
After this happened, George W. Bush Jr. repeated history by invading Iraq like his father, in the name of disarmament and something about fighting terrorism and Saddam Hussein.
Saddam was later to be captured on the 13th December 2003, holed up in the in Middle East. He was hanged on the 30th December, some three years later. The same year, Baghdad was seized, putting an end to Saddam’s regime. However, the struggle continues, with a democratic Iraq yet to be established.
In Africa, tensions in the Democratic Republic of Congo took an ugly turn when Laurent Kabila, the president at the time was assassinated on the 18th January, 2001.
On April 17th, 2004 the on-going tensions between Israel and Palestine likewise took a new turn when Israeli helicopters fired missiles in the Gaza strip, killing Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.
Evidently, the last decade was a decade of disaster. While some of us were complaining about the hot sun in 2004, others were fighting for their lives when a tsunami hit the coast of Indonesia. India and Thailand were also hit. A tragic event indeed, its trauma nearly rivaled the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima during the 2nd world war. Some 150, 000 were reported missing that fateful day, with millions left homeless in 11 countries. It all started with an earthquake of a 9.3 magnitude. Some 40,000 people are still missing.
The Catholic Church lost their leader Pope John Paul II in 2005 and Pope Benedict XVI succeeded him. Pope Benedict had his 15 minutes of fame when he publicly denounced the use of condoms.
In a similar fashion to 2004’s tsunami, Hurricane Katrina left a mark on the world. The United States was the victim, notably the city of New Orleans. This also revealed one other side of racism towards black people when the US government took its time to help the victims of the hurricane as if Mother Nature’s fury wasn’t enough.
Africa, in the meantime, had every reason to celebrate when FIFA announced the location of the 2010 World Cup, South Africa. It was a historical moment.
The music industry lost one of its greatest contributors, Michael Jackson. Nicknamed the King of Pop, Jackson entered the Guinness World Records as the most successful entertainer of all time.
News of his death spread wildly, causing websites to slow down and crash. The Los Angeles Times experienced an outage. Twitter reported a crash, as did Wikipedia. Google initially thought its search engine was under siege, with millions of people searching for “Michael Jackson”. Such was the phenomenal effect of the entertainer, despite his controversial lifestyle.
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe was a center of attraction in the last decade, angering world leaders with his actions. The decade saw countless Zimbabweans leaving their country, seeking greener pastures elsewhere as they escaped the economic downfall. And then there was the recession around the world, the worst since the Great Depression in 1929. The world is still recovering from its effects.
Mugabe who has been president since Zimbabwe’s independence won controversial elections in 2008 which led to a power sharing deal with rivals Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara. Tsvangirai became Prime Minister.
Kenya went from bad to worse when we witnessed the country get torn apart due to political turmoil. And just at the turn of the decade, the post election mayhem in Ivory Coast has led to the perennial African scene of people emptying into the street in rage.
The last decade was characterized by four negatives ÔÇô disease, disaster, war and famine; the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Sounds familiar? Christians should know.
While aftermath of September 9th 2001 exposed the cynicism of the times, it revealed the determination of millions of people across the world to reach for a better, safer world. There was a certain giddiness to it all, as if someone had opened a door and let the world’s emotions run riot.
Needless to say, there were a few good moments though. America had its first black president Barack Obama. Previous efforts by figures like Jesse Jackson eventually paid off. Hilary Clinton also gave hope to many aspiring female politicians when she gave Obama a good run for his money.
The most memorable event has to be Africa’s first World Cup. Many people were skeptical, but the continent pulled it off.
Looking at these events that occurred in the past decade what should we expect now that we have made it to 2011? Will the world end in 2012 flush with the Mayan calendar? The future may well take less predictable directions. If the last 10 years are a barometer, the next decade may prove even more momentous.
