Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review Jan. 26, 1999 /19 Shevat, 5760

Bob Greene

Bob Greene
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
David Corn
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Arianna Huffington
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Debbie Schlussel
Sam Schulman
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Cathy Young
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports
Newswatch
Weekly Standard

Econophone

Trakdata


Y3K already? We haven't yet recovered from Y2K


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- Do you think we could all agree to do each other a favor right now?

The world is filled with enough worries -- do you think we could agree not to worry about this one particular thing?

I refer to the year 3000 -- specifically, to how we wish to be remembered in 3000.

The subject comes up because there have been several attempts in recent weeks to get us -- as we pass through these early days of the new millennium -- to start putting little thought-packages together as a gift to the men, women and children who will be here 1,000 years from now.

The idea, as I understand it, is that we should, as a people, prepare presents for the people of the year 3000. That, as our millennial project, we should explain what is important to us, what we are accomplishing -- that when the year 3000 dawns, the people who are alive then should know what mattered to us in 2000.

A lovely sentiment--but, in the exhausted morning-after of Y2K, do we really need to be thinking about this? Having just summed up the last millennium, do we need to begin summing ourselves up for the next?

Because here's a hint:

They aren't going to care.

The people of the year 3000 will be just about as interested in us as we are in the people of 1000. Meaning: not very.

Being, as you may have noticed, a rather self-absorbed species, our collective interest tends to center on the things with which we are familiar. That is why, when the last millennium was being considered during the final months of 1999, an overwhelming preponderance of attention was paid to the 20th Century. Lots of talk about JFK and FDR and World Wars I and II and the invention of radio and television and the rise of the motorcar -- relatively little talk about anything that came before.

Do you think that the people of the year 3000 will be any different -- do you think that human nature will have changed so much by then that, as the next millennium arrives, those people will want to talk and think not about the leaders and events of their lifetime, but of ours?

Oh, you say, but we're such so fascinating these days -- what we are doing is so intriguing, so compelling. History is being made right now -- certainly the people of 3000 will want to dwell on us.

Uh-huh.

Let's face it -- in terms of the year 2000 and all the millennial summing-up that's been going on, because we're here right now we can tell ourselves that the events of our lifetimes are what matter.

But we're going to be blips in the year 3000 -- afterthoughts.

Consider these events, which took place in the first 50 years of the last millennium. They are parallel to what we're living through now -- by the year 3000, the events of our lives will have as much meaning to people as the events listed here have to us:

Basil II defeated the Bulgarians at Vidin.

Rudolph III of Burgundy appointed Henry II as his heir.

Ethelred invaded South Wales.

Pisa annexed Corsica.

Takayoshi founded the Tosa school of painting.

Guido d'Arezzo introduced solmization.

Jaroslav of Kiev founded Dorpat.

The caliphate of Cordoba was abolished.

Anselm of Canterbury was born.

Siward murdered Eardwulf and became sole ruler of Northumbria.

English monks mastered embroidery.

Mahmud of Ghazni defeated the Hindus at Peshawar.

Sancho of Navarre took Castile.

Hardicanute, son of Canute, was given control of Denmark.

Polyphonic singing replaced Gregorian chants.

Now . . . did you find yourself talking much about those things in 1999, as the old millennium ended and you were ruminating about the most influential people and events?

Probably not. But in the early days of the last millennium, those all were stop-the-presses items. Except there were no presses (which, come to think of it, may be the case in 3000).

So why don't we all slow down. We're not going to matter. The people we are so entranced with right now -- Steve Case of AOL, Bill Gates of Microsoft, George W. Bush and Bill Bradley and Al Gore and John McCain -- will hold as much interest to the people of 3000 as . . .

Well, as Hardicanute or Ethelred or Sancho of Navarre do to us.

Relax. The pressure's off -- we're free. Enjoy it.



JWR contributor Bob Greene is a novelist and columnist. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

01/21/00: Watching the pot that always boils
01/19/00:The story behind the men on the museum steps
01/13/00: Here's to the students who never hear a cheer
01/11/00: The oh-so-sweet sound of modems in the morning
01/04/00: The person in your mirror just got wiser
12/31/99: A lesson -- and a memory -- to last a millennium
12/29/99: Racing the clock, even when it's running backwards
12/13/99: The right to bear coffee
12/08/99: From teen idol to ink-stained wretch: Can you Dig it?
12/02/99: Human 'search engines'
11/30/99: Here's looking at you -- now hand over the cash
11/23/99: Who'll say 'I'm sorry' to the other Decatur students?
11/18/99: "From bad things, good can come"
11/16/99: The man who didn't know the meaning of 'whatever'
11/12/99: Is this progress? We have made the weekend obsolete
11/09/99: Today he would probably be called Kyle Kramden
11/04/99: And you thought the IRS was heartless
11/02/99: When it's free, what will the real price be?
10/29/99: The tissue-thin decisions that define who we are
10/26/99: One way to cut road rage down to size
10/22/99: Asking all the right questions takes a special pitch
10/18/99: The signs are talking to you; Are you listening?
10/12/99: Even Capone would be disgusted
10/08/99: Don't ever look your neighborhood bear in the eye
10/06/99: Land of the free and marketplace of the brave
10/04/99: German warplanes in American skies
09/30/99: While you fret, something is sneaking up on you
09/28/99: In these busy times, why not bring back a certain buzz?
09/24/99: The storms whose paths no one can track
09/21/99: Who's minding the store? Oh . . . never mind
09/17/99:Here's another place where you can't smoke
09/14/99: As certainly as `lovely Rita' follows `when I'm 64' . . .
09/09/99: Why is patience no longer a virtue?
09/07/99: Once upon a time, in an airport close to you . . .
09/03/99: The answers? They are right in front of us
09/01/99: Up the creek with a paddle--and cussing up a storm
08/30/99: $1 Million Question: How'd we get to be so stup-d?
08/27/99: Fun and games at Camp Umbilical Cord
08/25/99: How life has been changed by the woodpecker effect
08/23/99: If you don't like this story, blame the robot who wrote it
08/20/99: A four-letter word that has helped both Bob and Rhonda
08/18/99: They have picked the wrong country
08/16/99: From paperboy to stalker--how the news has changed
08/12/99: Why wasn't anyone watching his brothers?
08/10/99: Come to think of it, stars seldom are the retiring type
08/05/99: The national gaper's block is always jammed
07/29/99: 'Can you imagine the gift you gave me?'
07/27/99: A view to a kill -- but is this really necessary?
07/23/99: Some cream and sugar with your turbulence?
07/21/99: When your name is JFK jr., how do you choose to use it?
07/19/99: The real world is declared not real enough
07/15/99: The real victims of cruel and unusual punishment
07/13/99: A 21st Century idea for schools: log off and learn
07/09/99: Are life's sweetest mysteries still around the bend?
07/07/99: Of great minds, cream cheese and Freddy Cannon
07/02/99: The perfect spokesman for the American way
06/30/99: 'He's 9 years old . . . he trusts people'
06/28/99: A $581 million jackpot in the courthouse casino
06/25/99: A nighttime walk to a House that feels like a cage
06/23/99: At least give men credit for being more morose
06/18/99: On Father's Day, a few words about mothers
06/16/99: If work is a dance, how's your partner doing?
06/14/99: Should a dictionary ever tell you to keep quiet?
06/10/99: A story of Sex, the SuperBowl and your wife
06/07/99: Take a guess where "California Sun" is from
06/03/99: Of summer days, summer nights and pebbles in a jar
06/01/99: Putting your money where their mouths are
05/27/99: Pressed between wooden covers, the summer of her life
05/25/99:The lingering song of a certain summer
05/24/99:We could all use a return to the Buddy system
05/20/99: Now, this is enough to make James Bond double-0 depressed 05/17/99: It's midnight -- do you know where your parents are?
05/13/99: And now even saying "thank you" creates a problem
05/11/99: The answer was standing at the front door

©1999, Tribune Media Services