Dear beloved family and cherished friends,
As I sit here in the quiet, early morning hours of this last day of the year, of the decade, of the century, of the millennium, and reflect on what it is I want to say to everyone, my mind seems to draw a blank. What could I possibly say that could have significance on such a momentous occasion, so beyond myself? I could talk about the things which have happened to me in the past year, and that would be no problem, since I have done that nine times before. Or I could reflect on this past decade of my life, my accomplishments, and where I've fallen short--so horribly short--of the grandiose and unrealistic goals I had upon my college graduation in 1990. Or I could even try to make some comment about the end of the 20th Century, of which my life has only seen one third, whether overall it was better or worse for humanity, and if the new century is promising better times, or if we'll be wishing for the "good old days" of the 20th Century when the Holocaust and Hiroshima seemed to be the worst it could get.
But a millennium? 1000 years? To be honest, I really cannot comprehend what that means. Yes, I have been inside the house where Christopher Columbus died five centuries ago, and been to a castle which had been sieged during the Catholic-Moor war for Spain, also 500 years ago. But even being in those places still made it hard to grasp the incredible amount of time between those events and now--and so to double that, to make it an even 1000 years, is almost incomprehensible to me.
And yet, in the greater span of time, what is 1000 years? A millennium before the Norman conquest of 1066, the Romans where at their peak of power. Barely a millennium before that, Moses led the Israelite slaves out of Egypt. And if you keep going further and further back in time, you come to pre-history, before humans walked the earth, before dinosaurs, and eventually before the first little protozoa came to life in the ocean, before the planet Earth was formed, before God said, "Let there be a big bang!" In these eons of time, what difference does a millennium make? It might as well be just a day. And in the vastness of the universe, it all seems so utterly insignificant.
Tonight, the entire world will go and celebrate something most won't fully understand. I do not comprehend the full significance of a millennium, and therefore will not pretend to. But to tell you all about my little adventures of 1999, of my trip to Spain, of my enthusiastic students, of my becoming editor of my temple's newsletter, just seems too pitiful in today's context. All that really matters to me, at the moment, is the ones whom I love. My family, my friends, and one girl in particular who has touched my heart like none other, who has brought me the greatest joy and, recently, the greatest sorrow. At the dawn of a new millennium I am left in a state of uncertainly, with little clue as to where life will take me in the year 2000. I admit I feel so terribly alone, so small, irrelevant, and inconsequential. Perhaps we all do. Perhaps that's why we need to go out tonight and make a noise. To shout at the top of our lungs and let someone know that we are here, that we matter, that all these great accomplishments of our civilization and of our personal lives do count.
No, we probably won't be remembered at the next millennium. Despite how many time capsules we seal tonight. In fact, it's quite possible that in 1000 years, our planet may not even exist. But now, tonight, for ourselves, this is a happening. This is something we do, not for others 100 or 1000 years hence, but for ourselves because it will be a part of our lives for as long as we live. That may not seem very long, and our time here is so damned momentary, but at least it is something that we can comprehend within our brief lives and share with the people who are closest to us.
And so that is what I say to you, my dear friends, my dear relatives, my dear Ángeles. This millennial celebration is a mile-marker for ourselves. To paraphrase Lincoln, it is for us, the living, to be re-dedicated to the task which lies before us. What task is that? To become the best we can be and to love the best in everyone. Regardless of what happens in the next thousand years, we must focus on ourselves, on the here and now, because now is always the most important time.
My love goes out to you all. My deepest and sincerest wishes for a happy new year and a happy spirit.
Peace on Earth,
Jonathan Chisdes
(407) 320-0873