A New Chapter

 Some evenings there's time before bed for reflection and a wander through the personal archives. This piece was written New Years (and Millennium) Eve, 1999. It gave cause to realise the inexorable passage of time and how it goes largely unnoticed until there is a pause from the distractions and the routine.

Now in 2014 the three year old is seventeen and some of the significant people mentioned here are no more. Time and age brings the question into focus, "how much longer will I live?" Sixty seemed a long way off then. Now the intervening years back to 1999 are like a blink of the eye.

So lets wander back to the thoughts of a fifty year old man at the end of the Millennium.

 Five hours before the end of the Millennium the long shadows of a summer afternoon fall across the street and I start to drift back to summers spent in cool shady places in seemingly perfect peace. That elusive innocent naivety of childhood. This was brought sharply into focus when thinking about a certain little (three year old) lady (now ten going on eleven) who has a way of getting Grandpa to sit and talk (listen).

It never ceases to amaze me how much wisdom can be present in one so young.

The shadows are like those we cast on the path of time. Time spent with the very young is (as I seem to recall hearing many times over the years) a way of staying in touch with our own childhood. Some of us believe that our lot is what we have and there is no more, an acceptance of the seasons and harvests. Some seek to change the world. In the Universal scheme of things each plays a vital role. It is a balancing that is as natural as night and day. Too often our perceptions of others can leave us with feelings of not being good enough or worse smug superiority.

A Chinese proverb says “I am not right, you are not wrong, we just see things differently.”

The human heart is a fertile ground for both good and bad.

Looking back over history of the last thousand years I am left wondering if we really have learned much in the matters of the heart.

The last forty years have seen what is described as the "me" generation.

"I want therefore I should have."

"I can therefore I do."

This is being brought more into question as we start playing "God" with the very fabric of life. In genetic engineering for example we are treading ground, that in history has never seen trodden before. The wonders of our knowledge now need a massive dose of wisdom.

As with the window that sits on my desk (rather like the "Looking Glass" that the stories of childhood often had the wizard gazing into), there to see fantastic worlds and marvels that would defy explanation. How often have we all looked in the mirror and seen a stranger? This is the time when we can really understand who we are. From the child, to adolescent, to young adult to who

we are today. All of these live within us and serve as reminders that we are not who we really think we are.

I was pondering on this today as the thoughts of the relevance of the Millenniums closing took on a new significance. It was a reflection of all those I have known who have left this existence and all those about to join us. How important each of us is in passing on wisdom gained from the lives that have touched ours?

A new millennium? What does that mean.? What does that bring?

It may seem like just a set of numbers. A change in the way we see ourselves as human

being, as a part of the fabric of humanity or even the universe. Aside from all the hype, there is a shift in thinking. Occasionally a snippet comes through the internet or t.v. that shows there are in fact huge changes underway. Last night I did a business seminar where we reflected on how

much has changed in fifty years alone and yet how much has come full circle.

Simple things like taking the time to talk (which is now often done on a computer with people in many different places in the world).

It's a long way from a road North of Youraling (near my grandparents farm) to the world that now comes into this office as if by magic Yet the desire to touch and feel and see are stronger than ever now. The windows to the world that cross boundaries and oceans is leading to greater understanding.

A desire to meet those whose words appear on a screen, to hear their voices and feel the air in their parts of the world.

So now the chapter is closing and the focus is on the brave new world that our children and grandchildren will inherit. Do we take the time to listen to the history and pass it on? Do we take a part in making the world a better place?

The best starting place is in the hearts and minds of those we spend time with. To value them, make them feel valued and important so that they will pass on the good that we have done. To forgive ourselves for our perceived failings, to forgive others for perceived wrongs. To gently release those things which now do not serve us well.

It is a turning point where we can each make a difference in the present and the future. I hope that we can each take what was learned in the twentieth century and improve the world of twenty first.

A Very Happy New Millennium