A New Year... A New Decade...

Happy New Year! Happy New Decade!

And before you fire off that email to me debating whether the new decade starts on 1/1/2010 or 1/1/2011 (like the debate 10 years ago about whether 2000 was really the beginning of a new millennium or was it 2001), is it worth wasting time on it? After all, the day you are born is 0 years old and the tenth anniversary of your birth you are 10 years old. You have been on the planet 10 years. Need I go on?

Anyway, back to the original topic…whatever it was. Oh, yeah…New Year…New Decade…

This past decade started out a bit strange. 1999 brought us the Dot Com Bust, the establishment of the Euro, Jack Kevorkian being found guilty of murder for assisting in a suicide, Lance Armstrong winning his first Tour de France and Boris Yeltsin resigning as leader of Russia paving the way for Vladimir Putin.

We entered 2000 with fear and trepidation, stockpiling food, gasoline, money and anything else we could get our hands on to prepare for the perceived Armageddon we called “Y2K”, which never came. With the century and millennium change, a lot of strange things happened. Like 5 planets, the Sun and the Moon all lining up in the middle of the year and the 2000 “hanging chad” presidential election between Bush and Gore.

The past decade shaped us as a more cautious people with the events of 9/11/2001, looking at those around us with more scrutiny and trepidation. We entered two wars, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq; a déjà vu from the Vietnam days of sending our sons and daughters off to fight on foreign soil against an enemy not playing by “the rules”. But amidst all this fear, turmoil and uncertainty, we still we found ourselves able to grow and advance. The Internet grew with tremendous leaps and bounds; from being just a pipeline for email, Telnet bulletin boards and web surfing to a delivery vehicle for digital media, movies, music, telephone and video. Cell phones became more than just a phone to the point where today’s mobile phones are not even thought of for their purpose of being a telephone.

Of course, with such growth there are growing pains. Technology began thinning out job market sectors and new delivery options for receiving our information, slowly killing off the old delivery methods and vehicles. And, not learning our lessons from the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, we once again lived lavishly and greedily on credit that we didn’t have the capability to afford, and are paying for it with the current economic crisis we carry into this new decade.

This past decade we lost some very iconic figures: Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson...the first three hosts of the Tonight Show on NBC…as well as Carson’s sidekick Ed McMahon, Charles Schultz, Tom Landry, Chet Atkins, Carroll O’Connor, Ted Williams, Ann Landers, Johnny Cash, Bob Hope, Mr. Rogers, Rodney Dangerfield, Julia Child, Marlon Brando, Ray Charles, “Captain Kangaroo” Bob Keeshan, Johnny Ramone, Richard Pryor, Bob Denver, Pope John Paul II, Sandra Dee, James Brown, Don Knotts, Billy Preston, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Evil Knievel, Bo Diddley, George Carlin, Hunter S. Thompson, Tim Russert, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Ted Kennedy and Gidget the Taco Bell Chihuahua.

This past decade we also said goodbye to VHS tape, Analog TV, Kodachrome, Montgomery Wards, Woolworths and Farmer Jack (and “It’s Farmer Jack Saving Time”), In their place said we said hello to Blu-Ray DVDs, DTV and satellite TV options to cable, proliferation of digital cameras everywhere, and the rise of Kroger and WalMart. A lot of the “old guard” media outlets and delivery methods hit rough times this past decade as well; broadcast TV, terrestrial radio, the Compact Disc, newspapers and magazines…seeing numerous closures, bankruptcies, lawsuits and changes in programming, staff numbers and outlooks.

And now, time marches on as we enter a New Year and a new decade. We have elected the first black president and it seems we are moving forward into new territories with a unique mixture of hope, despair, sadness, frustration and doubt. Terrorism is still very much on our minds with the recent bomb attempt on Christmas Day on a plane landing at Detroit Metro Airport. The economy is still heavy on our minds with high unemployment, foreclosures, and a looming debt load.

However, the New Year and new decade also brings with it new hope; a fresh start to begin to enact positive changes for ourselves and others. Can we rise to this occasion? I know I will give it my best shot to do so. Recently a very good friend shared a quote from Walt Disney that will be my mantra for making 2010 the best year and decade ever:

“All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them”

A very Happy New Year and New Decade to you all! May you have the courage in 2010 to dream and hope for all the best this year and for new beginnings and better days! May you always have food for your table, water to quench your thirst, a place to hang your hat, and a year filled with smiles, laughter and love.