2014?! How did we get here so fast? I swear sometimes I feel a little like a man frozen out of time, somewhat helplessly watching the world flash past, a slave to the unrelenting momentum of the clock that never ever misses a tick, or a toc.
Fourteen years already into the new millennium, and I can still vividly remember fretting about Y2K! It never happened, just like the end of the world never happened in 2012. Clearly we worry too much. And we worry about the pace of time – as they say, each birthday, each anniversary, each new year merely marks a step closer to each of our own personal end of days.
But that is not the point of these milestones. If you focus on the grim inevitability at the end of the line, you might as well stand forever still and wait to be extinguished, hapless and impotent. Barely noticed. Hardly remembered. Another non-event amongst billions of blips sparking, twinkling and dimming out across this ball of wonder floating in space, which we call home.
Sure, life is like a travellator, and you can, and should, step off it occasionally, particularly at times like these, if only for a moment of quiet contemplation and consideration. But the joy is in knowing you can, and absolutely must, jump back on the ride at anytime and embrace the rush, the buzz, the reverie of life.
It’s about rejoicing in the knowledge that we’re still here, we’re still moving forward and we’ve still got our shades on cause you know why.
We live in fantastical times, and life is evolving in ways that the best informed of sci-fi futurologists could never have conceived. It can be scary, terrifying even.
But it’s also exciting, thrilling and full of constant amazement. We’re no longer waiting for the future, we’ve living in it – aside from the flying cars of course, and space colonisation, and holodecks… dammit.
Looking back with deep comprehension is important, looking forward with wide-eyed child-like wonderment is crucial.
So for the new year, as with every new year, it’s a time for reflection yes, but also a time to remember to free your mind, adapt to the new, relinquish the preconceived, and recognise cultural claustrophobia. Simply put – move with the times man, for the times they are a-changing (as someone very famous once said).
Bring it on 2014! We’re ready to boldly go into the greatest unknow of all – the future.
Happy New Year everyone: live long and prosper, and may the force be with you!
Brown Car Guy 
Leave a Reply