Categories: Parenting

Most Memorable Events of the 2000-2009 Decade

I don’t remember a decade since my birth in the 1950s that has been marked with so many First Time Events, that many in the world never thought would happen. These 2000-2009 Decade most memorable events came in the form of hate, natural disasters, politics, greed and scams, stupidity, paranoia, and sadly in memoriam, deaths of people who seemed invincible. Here are some of the most memorable events of the 2000-2009 Decade:

September 11, 2001

My Brother and Mother worked and lived one mile from the Pentagon on 9/11. When the terrorist plane hit, it would be five hours before I could speak with either to make sure they were safe from any other possible attacks in the area. After serving in the United States Air Force in the 1970s, the thought of ANY person or thing being able to penetrate our Pentagon in Washington D.C. was unthinkable, and for the most part, impossible.

But, therein lies the real national security problem of September 11, 2001. Nobody thought it would ever happen again after Pearl Harbor. We let our defenses down and we are still letting them down. The sad thing is, EVERY American, right down to the TAA employee in the airport should feel an unprecedented responsibility to do their job and keep America safe. It doesn’t matter if you earn minimum wage or you are at the top of the CIA, WHY would you not take all intelligence information about our country’s safety seriously after 9/11? The innocent civilians of America seem to be the ones stepping up to the plate to keep Americans safe. As for government workers, we are counting on you to do your job in the next decade.

Y2K

The best of part bringing in the new century was all the hype and fear around whether our computers were going to work at 12:01 am on January 1, 2000. Computer geeks all around the world spent years preparing for all of our communication, transportation, financial, and security systems to just stop working. The computers that managed these vital human functions would not be able to read 00 as a number in a date they said. I have to admit, I took all my money out of the bank on December 31, 1999 just in case. Life as we knew it was going to change and nobody really knew how it would change. Whew, everything worked on January 1, 2000 – except my kitchen sink from the party the night before!

Barack Obama Election

I voted for Barack Obama and I am still proud I did in November 2008. Check out this interview for the reasons why: Obama Obamadamma: An Interview with Rosanne Rosannadanna. The Obama Inauguration in January 2009 marked a huge transformation in America. Yet, I still have friends, family, and strangers whispering behind my ear, “Can you believe we voted a Black person as President?” I am not a prejudice person. I grew up in El Paso, Texas with a predominantly Hispanic population. I served in the military with a Black commander in the survival training wing at Fairchild; I had the greatest respect for Sergeant Anthony. I think Colin Powell is the greatest military leader of our generation and should also run to serve as President of the United States. Come on people – it is the 21st Century!

Hillary Clinton For President

While we are at it, we should mention that November 2008 was also the first time America saw a woman run for President of the United States and receive a respectable number of votes! Now, the Honorable Madam Secretary is Secretary of State, appointed by Barack Obama whom she campaigned against in the election. Cool!

Hanging Chads

What the heck are hanging chads and what does that have to do with Al Gore winning the Presidential election with the votes from the State of Florida? The George W. Bush vs. Al Gore 2000 Presidential Election taught us for the first time, what a hanging chad is. Now, you will find the term hanging chad in all the major dictionaries. Let’s don’t forget that because of hanging chads, this election went all the way to the highest court to determine how we should count hanging chads in an election. Of course, it helped that Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris was a flaming ditz and working under George W. Bush’s brother, Governor Jeb Bush. We all know who really won that year.

Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004

The Indian Ocean earthquake that triggered a tsunami killing over 230,000 people in 14 countries was the first time I learned that if the water on the beach is going away from the beach, you better start running up hill as fast as you can. I don’t think anyone in our generation ever realized how bad this could be until we saw such vivid television broadcasts of people perishing in the tsunami while vacationing on a beach – without any warning. Then we heard that the same level of disaster is due any time for the Pacific Northwest Coastal area. I don’t understand why people are not moving out of Seattle!

Hurricane Katrina

I owned a store in Bastrop when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 28, 2005. I stocked up on emergency supplies for people because originally, the path of the Hurricane was supposed to go right over Bastrop, 30 minutes east of Austin, Texas. They said we would be hit hard. Then the real wrath of Katrina was learned. I got a call from the Texas emergency management system asking that I do not sell our gasoline to the public because they needed it for emergency vehicles. ALL of the stores along the highway between Houston and Austin were out of gasoline and they could not get any more deliveries. There were stranded Katrina evacuees camped in their cars along every inch of highway with no food, no water, and nowhere to go. Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster to hit the United States, killing almost 2,000 people.

2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China

Michael Phelps became the world’s greatest olympic gold medal athlete when he captured his 14th career gold medal, the most won by any olpmpic athlete in history. Phelps won a total of eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China which surpassed the 1972 record of seven gold medals at a single Olympic event by Mark Spitz.

2000-2009 Decade In Memoriam; These People Seemed Invincible

There were thousands of Veterans and War Heroes that died during the 2000-2009 decade. God Bless them all and their families. There were hundreds of notable people who passed on during the 2000-2009 decade. In addition to our troops, these are some of the people I mourned:

Tom Landry, Dallas Cowboys Legendary Coach – 2000

Charles Schulz, Peanuts Comic Strip – 2000

Dale Earnhardt – 2001

George Harrison – 2001

Waylon Jennings – 2002

Astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia – 2003: Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon

Red Adair, oil well fire fighter – 2004

Fay Wray, King Kong’s Girlfriend – 2004

Christopher Reeve, Superman – 2004

Richard Pryor – 2005

Johnny Carson – 2005

Dana Reeve – 2006

President Gerald Ford – 2006

James Brown – 2006

Lady Bird Johnson – 2007

Luciano Pavarotti – 2007

Paul Newman – 2008

Tim Russert – 2008

Bernie Mac – 2008

Randy Pausch – 2008

Edward M. Kennedy – 2009

Walter Cronkite – 2009

Farrah Fawcett – 2009

David Carradine – 2009

Patrick Swayze – 2009

Natasha Richardson – 2009

Paul Harvey – 2009

Drugs Kill

This has a more personal meaning for me since in 2007, my best friend lost her 30-year old son to complications from drug overdose. It is the phone call no parent wants to receive. When I spent the week with her to prepare for his memorial service and burial, several of his friends visited the home and attended the memorial service. I asked them if they would stop using and abusing drugs since the death of their good friend. Their answer was shocking to me: “Probably not…it is what our generation does.” My heart goes out to the families whose young children died too soon, probably because of drugs:

Jason Sears – 2006

Anna Nicole Smith – 2007

Ike Turner – 2007

Heath Ledger – 2008

Michael Jackson – 2009

Brittany Murphy – 2009

Stupid People of the 2000-2009 Decade

Tiger Woods takes the award for the Stupidest Person of the ’00 Decade. The week after Thanksgiving in 2009 had people glued to the television sets and Tiger Woods’ web site to find out why he wrecked into the fire hydrant near his home in Florida at UUMM – 2:30 a.m. We all found out he wasn’t making a beer run. Here are the Top 10 New Year’s Eve Songs for Mrs. Tiger Woods.

Greed Rules The World from 2000-2009

People lost billions of dollars in their pensions, wages, investments and health benefits thanks to a few greedy people at the top of companies and at the top of their game – scamming Americans. Here are some of the ways that scandalous Greed ruled the “00 Decade:

Xerox – 2000

Enron – 2001

Arthur Anderson – 2001

AOL Time Warner – 2002

Bristol-Myers – 2002

Merck – 2002

WorldCom – 2002

Halliburton – 2002

Martha Stewart – 2004

Fannie May/Mortgage Industry Scandals – 2006

U.S. Bankers – 2008

Bernie Madoff – 2009