"Anything to say about the last ten years?" asked the stubby, short haired man.
He was trying to talk to the bank teller behind the bullet proof window in front of him. I saw his hopeful smile fade in the reflected window glare as I stood behind the rope, waiting for my turn. The teller couldn't hear him and even if she could, I doubt that she'd engage in witty banter while the rest of us twitch with impatience.
Mr. chatty was in his seventies, born and raised in an age of civility that fled America thirty years ago about the same time that the new and improved GI Joe action figures hit the toystores. The teller tried to appease him with a quick smile and efficiency, but he was one of those clueless geezers that refuses to be ignored. I watched her struggle to find the words to send him on his way with the minimum of human interaction and messiness and she did it in record time. He shook his head while slowly stuffing some twenties in his tiny leather wallet. Old fashioned never looked so disoriented and out of place, especially in one of the most stressful cities in in America.
This end-of-year banking interlude haunts me. Mr. chatty wanted/expected a bit of human interaction, and was frustrated with the security barriers erected to protect us and prevent an interruption in our sanitary and isolated lives. The Christmas day crotch bomber atrocity on Flight 253 increases our fear of suicidal maniacs and other such dangers. It is clear that the BushII years have made America "public enemy #1" among the world's haters. More useless barriers and obstacles are now in place, further limiting and frustrating us. Looking back on the past decade, one word seems to be the hallmark of this era: fear. Fear's ugly stepsister is hate and as decades go, the zeros are my most hated time.
Much of what happened during the zeros is disappointing, at best, and devastating at worst. On a scale of one to ten, I'd give the zeros a 2 - not even a so/so. It is saved from a "less than zero" rating by some very hopeful personal and family accomplishments, and by the current less conservative political trajectory.
Bruce Sterling says it all in his commentary in THE WELL's State of the World 2010.
"..,the polarity of the world is changing, literally and figuratively; the climate's wonky, the economy's tumbling like a house of cards in a demented wind, political will is weak and the body politic is disfigured in ways that are gross and fascinating. It's a circus, and the tent's on fire."
