OLD GRUMPY<

December 2000 Table of Contents

OLD GRUMPY
[Our Curmudgeon at Large]

Only a few more days to go and the phrase "new millennium" will finally have some meaning. Last year billions of lemming-like people celebrated the dawn of the year 2000 just because their governments told them to. Wherever in the world you were, your government disrespected your intelligence. You wouldn't understand, according to them, that the new millennium starts at the beginning of 2001. 2000 was a nice, round number. Celebrate 2000!

Nothing wrong with that, but I resent the powers that be changing the definition of a millennium. It's a period of 1,000 years. Why did we celebrate the passing of 1,999 years? Will a future generation celebrate the passing of 2,999 years? Or by that time will governments stop treating their citizens like children?

The math is painfully simple. At the end of the year 1 BC the year 1 AD started. That's when we begin to count. At the end of the first year the millennium is one year old. At the end of five hundred years the millennium is five hundred years old. At the end of a thousand years the millennium is complete. And at the END of 2000 years we will have completed another millennium and entered a new one. Arthur C Clarke didn't name his movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" at random. He knew when the next millennium starts.

And stop telling me to have a merry Christmas. I'll have whatever kind of Christmas I choose.

This Issue Table of Contents - - Previous Issues

Other Abaco Bahamas Links
Home Page (oii.net) - Message Board (AbacoBoard.com) - Latest Happenings (AbacoToday.com)