Christmas 2004 Year In Review

I spent the Christmas holiday this year with my two cats at home alone in quiet solitude. I began to read about some of 2004's so-called "newsworthy events" in film, literature, music, politics, science and television. If an historian could write a "State of the World" for 2004, I wonder what he or she would pen about 2004.... I wonder how much of anything that happened in 2004 on this planet really matters to anyone here, including me? Is it all just a strange dream, an illusion we are living through until we breathe our last breath? Is it all "for good" as some philosophers say?

***

HEALTH. The Republic of Ireland banned smoking in restaurants, pubs and bars. Hurrah for the Republic of Ireland! Wonder how many more years it will take the United States to do the same? When will people stop committing slow suicide and give up sucking on cigarettes? When will they realize that just a few years, maybe even months, down the road, Lung Cancer will be knocking at their doors? I see people taking their smoke breaks at lunchtime, and I feel sad for them all.

SPORTS. I'm not much of a sports fan but for avid sports fans, I guess I should note for the record that the Boston Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series championship for the first time since 1918. In golf, prodigy Michelle Wie at age 14 became the youngest woman to play at a PGA Tour event. In the NFL Super Bowl XXXVIII, the New England Patriots won against the Carolina Panthers. My daughter is a football fanatic and has taught me a little about the game. She knows all the plays and players on all the NFL teams and could talk the talk with any sports newscaster as long as it was about football. I think she inherited her love of football from her paternal grandmother who used to scream and holler on Sunday afternoons in front of the tv screen when "the game" was on.

***

In politics and government, a national funeral service for former U.S. president Ronald Reagan was held at the Naitonal Cathedral. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the U. S. (the "9/11 Commission") published its initial findings. There was a "groundbreaking" of the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero in New York City and the Statue of Liberty reopened after security improvements. Incumbent president George W. Bush defeated Senator John Kerry in the presidential election. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, resigned to be replaced by Condoleezza Rice.

***

PUBLIC POLICY and the LAW. In law, Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in compliance with a ruling from its Supreme Court (Goodridge et al. v. Department of Public Health). There's a lot of fighting over whether we can pray in public or salute the flag. When I was in public school, we always said the pledge of allegiance every morning as part of the morning "announcements." The intecom would come on and we'd all stand up beside our desks and salute the invisible flag located somewhere in the school building. We also had "assembly" when we said the Lord's Prayer. I remember a student who was Jewish did not attend "assembly."

***

Internationally, direct elections for president were held for the first time in Afghanistan, and a U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government. Preliminary hearings began in Iraq in the trial of former president Saddam Hussein for war crimes and crimes against humanity. I wonder if we'll ever capture Osama bin Laden. And how many thousands of other "insurgents" will we have to capture and kill? Maybe we should try to understand the underlying reasons why they hate us so much and extend help to them. It seems we help so many people around the world already. I also wonder if the Middle East will ever live in peace. One Jewish Rabbi when asked what the solution was to the conflict in the Middle East simply said each side should sincerely ask forgiveness of the other, "We are sorry for the harm we have done to you. Please forgive us. Let us be friends now." Forgiveness is the only answer, he said. His name is Rabbi Gelberman and he alone survived the Nazi concentration camps. All the rest of his family, including his parents and his daughter whose name was Judith, were exterminated. In his late 80's, he still cries whenever he tries to say her name.

***

Mother Earth did quite a lot of housecleaning. There were earthquakes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, fires, and hurricanes (remember Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne ?)--all wreaking havoc, destruction and death in their paths. The strongest earthquake in 40 years originating from the Indian Ocean on December 26th and measuring 9.0 on the Richter Scale, created tsunami tidal waves that swept across much of the coastlines of Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Burma Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and claimed thousands of lives. Oh, and Mount St. Helens became active again.

***

ENTERTAINMENT: I wasn't a big tv couch potato this year, but I noted some famous entertainers who departed our company: Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo); actors Janet Leigh, Peter Ustinov, Marlon Brando, Rodney Dangerfield, Christopher Reeve, John Drew Barrymore and Tony Randall; Estee Lauder the cosmetics pioneer, Ray Charles the musician, Elmer Bernstein the composer, Arthur Hailey the author, Anthony Hecht the American poet, and Julia Child the international cook and tv personality.

I didn't go to the movies often either, but I did see Fahrenheit 9/11 at the Westhampton Theatre, the controversial documentary by Michael Moore. I passed up seeing The Passion of Christ, Mel Gibson's controversial film about the last days of Jesus. Jesus' life and teachings are what matter most to me. By appearing to His disciples in the flesh three days after His body was crucified, He apparently proved that his "sacrifice" was unnecessary, but that idea is certainly not part of mainstream Christianity today. Films I've heard would be worth seeing include The Phantom of the Opera, Ray, Ocean's Twelve and Woman Thou Art Loosed. I was happy for Charlize Theron, who received the screen actors guild award for best female actress and for Renee Zellweger, who picked up a prize for best female supporting actor. They are both fine actors. My favorite male actors include Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves. I have collected some old movies that I enjoy watching at home on videotape like Sweet November, Forest Gump, Hurricane, You've Got Mail, As Good As It Gets, Something's Got to Give, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and Autumn in New York. My daughter bought me a bunch of previously viewed movies for $2 a piece at Blockbuster Video for Christmas so I'd have some entertainment over the holidays while home alone.

***

TECHNOLOGY. In technology, the World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee was awarded the Millennium Technology Prize in its inaugural year. It is amazing to ponder how one human being could invent the World Wide Web!

***

SCIENCE. Advances in science were of the most interest to me. NASA's Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars and confirmed signs of water in that planet's geological past. NASA's pilotless plane the X-43 broke the world speed record by flying 7 times the speed of sound. SpaceShipOne, the first non-government built spacecraft to transport a person into space and return safely to earth, was launched in California, reaching an altitude of 62.5 miles, just passing the edge of space, proving to be a plausible option for space tourism if you've got the big bucks to buy a ticket. Scientists in South Korea announced they had cloned 30 human embryos. John Clark, who was head of the Roslin Institute and part of the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep, died as did Lewis Urry, the inventor of the long-lasting alkaline battery. The remains of a previously unknown species of human was discovered in Indonesia named Homo floresiensis, a dwarfed hominim that lived 18,000 years ago on the island of Flores. Scientists using the Chandra X-ray Observatory announced their findings that support the notion that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. (see http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/darkenergy). PBS aired a program this year about the expansion of the Universe. Eventually, human beings (if they still exist on the planet) will no longer be able to see the stars because they will have all expanded into infinite space. The oldest documented person in the U.S., Emma Verona Johnston, died at age 114. I am told by a medical doctor that eventually the life span of human beings will increase to 200+ years. But why would anyone want to live that long to experience more violence at home and abroad, more terrorist attacks, decapitations, bombings and wars. If we cannot live together on this earth in peace, what's the point of extending our life span?

That's my world news roundup for 2004. I would have liked to have read a few good books, but I'll save that wish for retirement. Happy New Year to all!