We stand at the crux of history.’
In decades to come, people will reflect upon 2008 as the moment when mankind decided the course it would take’mdash;marking the beginning of a beautiful revolution or a precipitous decline.
This year was bigger than Obama, bigger than the United States.’
If anything, 2008 revealed the importance of community, of recognizing the essential humanity within us and the importance of individual choice.
January ushered the fifth year of the tiresome Iraq War and only days ago terrorists rampaged Mumbai, killing hundreds and injuring more.
In August, the world coalesced for a few days in Beijing to participate in the Olympic Games.’
This momentous occasion, celebrating the passion and teamwork embodied by athletics, was the first held in China, a nation notorious for strict government and an international policy based in isolation and fierce nationalism.
Despite internal turmoil and international tensions, the Games occurred without much drama.
At home, Americans rallied, campaigned, debated and endorsed as a black man, two women and a Mormon’mdash;among others’mdash;battled for the two most powerful offices in the world.
Like the past 7 years of this millennium, the world has been tugged between rage and hope, anguish and joy. ‘
Our eyes glazed over in awe as telecommunications linked our world through iPhones and Blackberries.
Our eyes glazed over in horror as Georgia and Russia warred and our fiscal excesses spiraled into an economic downturn.
But now, a moment has presented itself in which we all have the ability to help guide our world to something new.
This year has proved how truly interconnected we are. ‘
Despite the pettiness of political parties, religious affiliations, race, gender, sexual orientation and nationality, we are all at our cores humans with needs.
We need a world safe from destruction, a world free of bigotry, a stable and healthy environment and equal rights.’
We come together to love, we join hands in laughter, we grieve alone and we endure.
But as this last month ends, we can stop enduring this climate of pervasive pessimism and misery.’
We should be enduring the arduous and steady healing that comes with solidarity and the recognition of our common humanity.
This year I have never felt freer as a person and more in tune with others.’
Through divorce and the loss of my beloved grandmother, my family has remained strong; through honesty with myself and with those I love, I protested in the streets of Tampa for my civil rights.
Through the community of writers at UT, I have grown more confident in my abilities as a writer.
In the company of friends, I learned and laughed my way through a year of tremendous national achievement and transformation.
Even though we may be young, our lives are marked by connectedness.’
Facebook and Youtube and Wikipedia, bind us through the late hours of night’mdash;we are at each other’s fingertips and yet there is such a sense of isolation and division.
Statistics reveal how unsatisfied Americans are with our government, with the state of the world around us, and even our own bodies.
When we can’t look to ourselves to find personal satisfaction it’s no surprise how scattered Americans feel.
We seem to be a nation of disorder looking for the short-term panacea: Xanax, Ritalin, food, celebrity gossip, reality television and fad spirituality.
We’re so busy simply trying to scrape by, trying to ease our burdens that it’s hard to think about saving the world and aid the plights of others.
Life is toil for the best of us, but I think it’s time we help end each other’s burdens.
Now is the time to become unified as students, as Americans and as humans.’
Next year is the beginning of the end for the New Millennium’s first decade.
If we work now, hopefully, in the second decade, we can look back at this one and say: The world is a little bit better and these years are the best of my life.
Derrick Austin may be reached at daustin@ut.edu.
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