Journey of Awakening 59: How to Define a Decade

If nothing else had happened I might have named the first ten years of the 21^st century “The Decade of Broadening Experiences.”

For our 25^th anniversary Linda and I planned and took a two-week trip to Italy.  It was a magical journey:  Rome, the Colloseum and Sistine Chapel; the Italian Riviera, aka Cinque Terre (five lands); walking the back streets of Venice at night; getting lost in Florence looking for the David and Michelangelo’s home; Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, where we experienced a most precarious bus ride; and finally Pompeii, where we were reminded of the fragility of life and wondered what all those people were doing and thinking on their last day.

We were jazzed after that trip and began thinking of other places we wanted to experience.  This could be a decade of exposure to the cultures of the world.  Then 9/11 happened!  Afghanistan invaded!  Two years later Iraq!  Would this now become a decade defined by wars and terrorism and counter-terrorism?

There are events that intrude into the ongoingness of our lives and our planning for wonderful futures that alter our perceptions about life itself.  I guess the “Decade of Broadening Experiences” is good enough for a descriptive title for this era after all.  We have always said:  “The future is open!”