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A Buck for Every Tragedy November 1999 |
The Doomsday Clock on the front of the Macy's building is
winding down. The moment is coming. Like the majority of my readers, I suspect,
I haven't taken this whole "End of Millenium" hype particularly seriously.
Really, the past few months have been a good laugh- taking a piss on the
survivalists and apocalypse-minded Christians as they convert their life-savings
into bunkers and canned beans. But the thing is, the last time I stared
up from the crowd on Powell into the face of that red digital clock, the
oddly retro LCD-style numbers winding furiously down toward zero, zero,
zero, it felt... different.
That's the killer though. That weird goosebump-and-butterfly feeling is exactly why being alive right now is such a gift. For all the irritating noise of the hype, this event is still a big thing. Apprehension beforehand is an excellent indicator that an experience will be worthwhile (or at least memorable...) and it would be a waste to trivialize the closing moment of two thousand years of history. So I think we should try to hang on to this- to not let it go by quickly or thoughtlessly. It is so easy to get wrapped around the day to day grind of a job, or a life spent in pointless repetition. In these next few weeks it will be vital to avoid that trap of the mundane. Find the time to sit in silence for a moment. Look out at the city around you. Soak in the feeling of what it is like to be alive, here, now. Take this moment in so deeply that you'll be able bring it back later, and remember the fullness of it. Live without regret. Trust in the world, but hope for change. Watch, and forget nothing. I love you all. Pete Darling,
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