When I was a kid we used to go camping with this group of families from
my Primary School. My parents weren't super outdoors-y back then so
camping was definitely a new and exiting thing for us. Some of the other
families were veterans and had all the fancy gear (folding bunk beds!)
so we didn't even have to rough it that much. Plus, a family holiday
where there are other kids to play with? Golden. We were on one of these
trips over new year 1999. I don't think I really got the significance
of the new millennium at the time - I have vague memories of yk2 talk
that came to nothing, but that's about it. I remember the trip, though.
We scored a huge spot near the creek, and accidentally cleared out the
family who'd set up next door by being too rowdy (I recall a prank we
played on a girl who was about my age, where we wrapped pebbles in Roses
wrappers and gave them to her - kids can be so cruel). There were
rubber inner-tyres we'd carry up the creek and float down in, and some
of the dads tied a rope across the creek at our site so we wouldn't get
carried away by the current and end up in the deep pool further
downstream. Some of the boys got hold of a box of matches and nearly
started a fire. All the girls got their hair done in matching braids using a fork because no one had a comb. One of the mums drank too much and her husband
did a hilarious reenactment of her trying to put on pajama pants, and I
remember feeling like such a grown up when I was included in the
conversation.
I first heard Billy Joel's Two Thousand Years as part of a sermon at church when I was a teenager. I don't remember what the sermon was about, but I remember thinking the piano riff alone was evidence for the existence of God. Theology aside, there are definitely things about human spirituality we don't understand. Maybe one day science will enlighten us, but until then it falls into the realm of philosophy. [On a side note, the argument that each scientific discovery shrinks the scope of philosophy annoys me. Each discovery alerts us to more things we don't know, which philosophers examine and raise questions about, which science then endeavours to answer. It's a process, people.]
I'm not sure if it's a romanticisation of childhood, or if the new millennium coincided with a leap forward in pre-digital camera technology, but when I remember the years before 2000 they have a hazy tint.
[I should add, the word on youtube is that Billy had had a few by the time he performed this song on the eve of the new millennium at Madison Square Garden, so it's not his most in-tune performance. Still though, can you even imagine being there? Incredible.]
