There is a certain sense of nostalgia that comes with the years in which you grow up. It may not be apparent to everyone when it happens, but in time, it will sink in. The 21st century is the context in which I, and most of my audience, have come of age. We didn’t mean to be born when we were, and I’ve heard more than a few people say they would have opted for an earlier era. But I have to say, echoing one of my favorite poets — a guy named Mark Strand— that I do love the 21st century, and I think that was the amazement I felt watching the New Year’s ball drop at age nine. It was a sense of love and a sense that I would enjoy the days ahead more than the ones behind.
Though many would say that the 21st century is, in fact, the slow dying off of all our great luminaries and a continuous threat of danger in the world, I would say this is no reason to give up. There have been worse times and no one, right now, is really poised to start a world war. So sit back, laugh at a viral video or plan to watch the newest reboot of an older film.
I won’t list reasons why I love the 21st century or why you should; instead, I’ll talk about where those feelings come from. I’m turning 22 in August. That means I’m a young man, and I’ll continue to be young for a long time coming. This isn’t just an issue of biological age, though I won’t discount it being wrapped up in biological age, but rather of perspective. I’m still growing, still learning and so the last 12 years of my life have been a long string of investigations, some with disastrous endings and some that weren’t so bad. By virtue of not knowing everything, I’m set to pay attention and look for what I might want to know and what I might like.
It’s a common experience, and droves of people have always collected, doing much of the same thing together because of a sense of life. This is the idea of a zeitgeist or spirit of the age. Though it seems like hokum, and probably to our left-brained generation, it is, I believe, a working idea. It is also a mixed bag. Like loving a person, loving a time period comes with its drawbacks.
The 21st century gave us iPads and also gave us 9-11, similar trade-ins were the Arab Spring and Hurricane Katrina. Sometimes the good things are a let down. It is a more open world than it has been before, in a technological and personal sense, but people seem to use it to be more closed. Take a look at our two-party systems, look away and repeat until you burst into tears.
However, with youth and time and the sense of progression about so much that is happening in the world today, I feel we can go to counseling with the 21st century and figure it out before things end in separation. Personally, I think it’s a life-long relationship, and I’m willing to give as much effort to my love of the 21st century as it will possibly need.
