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Tuesday, 28 December, 1999, 10:38 GMT
Sum up the century
What phrase best captures the 20th Century? What words distil the essence of 100 eventful and dramatic years? Some of the thousands of emails we have received already are published on this page. We will continue to publish your suggestions here all week. Remember, you have until December 31 to send us your suggestions.
Just another century of Great Killers: The Wars, Stalin, Hitler, The Bomb...
The time when the smartest species on Earth lit the blue touch paper of its own downfall.
It's been one hell of a ride!
We have disappointed God, and now he will return as the Lord Jesus Christ to save us with a new Heaven and a new Earth.
Subterfuge, manipulation, and the treating of "common folk" as objects by "leadership", all with deliberate foreknowledge.
The Wasted Century.
A century that started badly and then got progressively worse. Without "new myths to live by" (Jung) we will destroy our environment and then ourselves.
We started with great hope, but it seems there must be some missing link between what we wanted and what we have.
"The century that undeniably exposed
the limits of human capability - at its
best as well as at its worst ; and man's
unrelenting crusade in testing each
limit. "
A century which the global society reached the peak of perfection and humans begin to play god and mother nature. But the politics and money of the rich have changed to the point where they dictate the rules of the how the global society will function.
We tried to achieve peace, liberty and
emancipation for ourselves. Only for the
vast majority to be still entangled in
the miseries of poverty, disease and
anguish (war, terrorism, hegemony).
One big melting pot of the worst and best that mankind can offer. The end of the world as we know it. And we still don't know anything.
A century born in war, grown up in industrial realisation and retiring in ultra-communication awareness.
Century of darkness and light, strength and weakness, highest and lowest, love and hatred, black and white, winners and losers, life and death...of yin and yang.
Where humankind discovers that the very thing that promises peace is the very thing that destroys.
The Triumph Of Deception!
After all the turmoil, all the violence and all the degradation mankind is beginning to learn its lessons. Now, at the end of the century, at long last, both peace and nature finally have a chance.
In Search of Peace
We began the century with wealth measured in land and steel, passed briefly through an energy economy, and now find national wealth and power dependent on science, technology and freedom of communications. But the progress was not uniform, and in those remote places where information still comes from others in the community at first hand rather than from the Internet, broadcast, or even mass print media, local/tribal passions and hatreds showed themselves as strong. Perhaps stronger than ever.
THE CENTURY OF "AGONY AND ECSTACY." Agony of mankind suffering, ecstasy of all the Wonders mankind has achieves.
"He who dares, Rodney!"
Some hope remains....
Unanticipated changes abound while humans play God.
A century in which the last decade was surrendered to the media and it took the bit between its teeth and ran madly in all directions. Examples: Iraq, Israel, Yugoslavia, USSR, Indonesia, Malaysia, USA (Clinton and OJ) etc etc.
Dickens had it right although he referred to an earlier period. "It was the best of times and it was the worst of times".
Genesis- read in the moon, Revelation - acted out on earth.[war blood shed earthquakes etc.]
A new paradigm of achievement, a new paradigm of debasement.
The birth of electronic communications and technology: this was the century when homo-sapiens paradoxically learned how to conquer space, create life in a test tube and form artificial intelligence, while at the same time their efforts in doing so were destroying the very earth we need for survival.
This Century might be better but it is worse. There is war, corruption and space ships that don't launch. It has advanced in technology but the human mind has changed. It relies on technology and what else there is. But there is still the Millennium Bug so how can we be better than before?
How many of us can compare this century with previous ones from real experience? Seems to me that at its core human life continues to demonstrate its incredible diversity. People evolve much much slower than technology, whether you believe in Darwin, God or both.
This was a century of progress marked internationally by
the drive to be bigger, better, and faster. In war and peace,
fierce competitiveness became distinctly a twentieth-century value.
Sarah Fisher, USA
In this century, the power of our tools began to equal the powers of our imagination, and our dreams and our nightmares became a reality.
This century was neither white nor black. It was grey, but the most prominent grey ever.
There has never been a better time to be alive.
The 20th century is has seen the most dramatic advances in science and technology ever experienced by mankind in its entire history.
A century of individual achievements, from the Olympics to space flight. "It is not what your country can do for you, it is what you can do for your country."
Power trips!!!!!
Pax Americana
A century of changing horizons. For as one horizon changed (viewing the earth as a whole for the first time) others emerged (humanity's struggle against its own destruction). Maybe the phrase summing up next century will be 'maturity'?
Blood, Death, assasination, moon.
A strange and unique combination of unparalleled joy and fascination on one hand, and extreme horror and unimagined terror on the other.
The century of excess: WWI and WWII, Bolshevism, Gulag, Final Solution, Mutual Assured Destruction, Consumerism, Population growth, AIDS, Stock Market Binge, Sexual Revolution... the list goes on.
"Hard on the outside, soft and chewy in the centre".
"And now for something completely different..."
"To boldly go where no man has gone before".
My word for the century is exponential; the exponential growth in technology, in mankind's destructive power, and in mass communication. All these will make the next century the make or break.
Explosive!
Hope in the midst of awfulness and fear. Plenty of awfulness and fear.
The truth was out there.
The century that brought the dawn of mankind's adolescence, an era of awkward new strength and knowledge un-tempered yet by discipline or wisdom.
Irreparable damage to
MOTHER EARTH.
A Teutonic romantic nightmare inflicted on us all.
A millennium of condoning terrors of the most corrupt at the top.
A blink of an eye in the history of this world, when humankind continued to search for meaning in an age of technological and spiritual confusion.
Winston Churchill - the name says it all.
We don't know where we're going but at least we're getting there fast.
The 20th century can be described as the era of innovation,
war, peace to a certain degree, women liberation & global environmental conscious.
Time is the strongest of all warriors.
Nothing about humanity was learnt, save brief glimpses of freedom, equality, and justice. Too much of technology and greed was learnt, killing human nature and compassion.
This has been a century of transition, to a greater age of peace built on unity.
"I am human. Hear me roar" ...or... "Damn, we're good"
On balance, this century has brought immeasurable progress in our long journey toward the realisation of the true brotherhood of mankind
"We meant well."
"The good, the bad and the ugly"
One hundred years where our technology has greatly exceeded our humanity
Science has taught us more than we could ever have imagined, but we have learnt nothing from history.
The end of empires, but not of cruelty; triumphant technology, but can we make a civil world?
"The good, the bad and the ugly"...all observed from the comfort of our homes.
More communication than ever before, yet less understanding than ever.
The rise of the 'common' person; struggling to find the IT highway from Apocalypse to Nirvana.
The 20th Century has had an insatiable appetite for war, wealth, and technology.
"I do not understand this new technology".
The quest for Utopia through socialism has lead to more people being enslaved and murdered then most people are willing to admit.
War, technology, war, technology, war
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This was the century of great experimentation in human existence and evolution, with turbulent and violent change.
It has been a century when we have known everything and learned nothing. A century of wasted opportunities.
1901-1999, the shortest century so far- just 99 years from start to finish.
Congratulations Mankind, despite the problems and setbacks, you made it through to 2,000 in one huge piece!
'But you ain't seen nothing yet, baby!!!'
The century whose worst evils revealed the best acts of kindness .
I hope that in the next 100 years time will heal the wounds we have opened this century.
"All this and more you will do" we were told 2000 years ago. In this century we have got closer to knowing we are Gods...and when we lose our connection with nature we create chaos, yet when we act from the knowing we are all one, we are wonderful.
Man on the Moon.
A century of contrasts!
The century of the greatest of hopes and grieves.
The 20th Century. History, the register of man's folly, saw humankind achieve technological wonders and moral turpitude's on an equally grand scale in the 20th century. The angel-like and noble, work in progress, that is humankind, has not yet exterminated itself and has achieved great good in its struggle to attain spiritual betterment, despite of, or perhaps because of, its inherent biological weaknesses. Even though we continue to corrupt our planet and are still prepared to kill on another in the name of freedom there is hope for the propagation of our species. There is hope, I for one, am optimistic.
John Anthony Robles II, Moscow, Russia
Give me strength!
A century of transition from an Industrial Revolution to an Information Revolution!
The last one hundred have witnessed what wrath and vengeance can do to mankind, transform him into a demon.
I'd say that the last one hundred years were the dark ages of human existence and hope for the better in the new millennium.
"One small step for man; one giant
leap for mankind" Neal Armstrong, Apollo Moon Landing.
The 20th Century was the 'Century
of Change'. Change took place more dramatically,
more rapidly, in every facet of our world and in our individual lives.
This has been the most turbulent century in history. More has happened
in more places with respect to technological achievement than in any other.
Yet, we are a strange people that have some elements that 'hi-jack' aircrafts and allow
people to suffer needlessly, bomb innocent children and adults, say we are all about peace and then prepare for war.
This has been a truly changing world at an unbelievable speed.
This was a century of unbelievable violence as well as a century of peaceful and nearly indescribable creativity. A time of reflection and a time of action. A space where humanity decided that the great Web of All Life really did matter and we are only now trying to determine how we are to honour All Our Relations in the great family of all life.
Reverend James C. Lovette-Black, USA
A century of anachronism and paradoxes.
One more century closer to truth!
As far as massacres
continue to exist,
man remains the only
animal.
Here I sit, half broken-hearted.
We look outward with increasing efficiency and look inward with decreasing depth. As a species, we managed to greatly increase our understanding and ability control the physical universe, only to put ourselves at risk of chaos for lack of self-control.
What a century! From the horse to man made probes rushing towards the stars. Man standing on a New World. Who would have believed that in 1900.
What great men - Einstein, Fleming, Ghandi, Mandela.
Yet what evil; the two world wars, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, the holocaust, the atomic bomb.
This Century will be remembered for the best and the worst of Man.
The amazing advances in our knowledge have enabled the fastest population growth in our history. This however cannot continue. I would like to think that it will be controlled by self-retraints, but I fear that the actual method will either be mutual destruction on a scale never seen before, or universal starvation and disease.
Global awareness has never been greater, in terms of science, history, politics, communication and every area of education. I think that while it's true that the all the same weaknesses and strengths remain in individual humans, surely the advances attained in this century, particularly in the last half, have given individuals and nations far better tools than at any other time in our existence to make the best of what we are and where we live. I believe that it is more difficult now than ever before to ignore lessons learned in history.
After two wars to "end all wars", we still seem to be reeling from escalating cycles of violence. I am hoping now for "an outbreak of random acts of kindness".
John Mulvaney, Canada
"We admit it God! You rule. You are the MAN. We can never beat you".
A century of huge paradigm shifts in scientific and technical knowledge, computational power and access to information, against a backdrop of two world wars, an ideological cold war, and continuing ethnic conflict.
Now that we've learned how to totally destroy things, perhaps we could spend the next millennium learning how to create things.
The past is worth less than it ever has been before - this will free us and enslave us in equal measure - but remember willpower is still more powerful than anything else.
"Did somebody say McDonalds?"
Opportunities availed themselves for the individual and the smart individual didn't dawdle. So, what else is new?
And still it does move.
It's been an amazing century with achievement to the highest heights and the lows, low like the darkness of hell. The more humans have changed the more they have stayed the same. In the US and across the world there is the need for more religious and racial equality. Empathy and the philosophy of doing unto others as you would have done unto thyself is still missing.
A. Singh, Guyana / US.
Love is eternal. Here is hoping that
Hate does not carry on to the next
century.
ELECTRIC!
What, is this the first time someone is not going to blame the United States for something?
OK, we've been lucky to survive this century; but if we continue as we are doing, we will need more than just luck to survive the next.
We have reached the highest heights and sunk to the lowest lows.
The century of light and flight,
The century of life and loss,
The rise and fall of racism,
The time for all the world to see
In the past 100 years we learned that more personal freedoms mean a more affluent, abundant and healthy life. The central planners brought environmental disaster, a drunken populace and ugly architecture along with their lies. Hooray for libertarianism and thank God for Thomas Jefferson and James Madison!
Despair and evil appeared to have triumphed, but even when suffering is at its worse, simple acts of kindness and selfless love give hope for the future.
S Brown, England
A century of achievements. Now, let's strive for some quality in our lives.
A century when we developed the tools to allow us all to communicate with one another. Lets hope we can learn to use them for peace in the next century.
A century of mixed blessings: death by design, and prolonged life by technology.
IMAGINE!!
A century in which humanity underwent more change than in the preceding three million years.
Mankind's race for greed, power and
lust have been fuelled in this century
by knowledge and technology. What
mankind has failed to learn is the
wisdom to use it.
The Eagle has landed.
If you have got nothing to hide you
have nothing to fear.
A century of technology and tears that expanded our minds and shrunk our hearts.
The century where impossible dreams were made real, and terrifying nightmares unleashed; the time when all the world discovered the true power of collective endeavour, and the need for vigilance and action against tyranny and aggression.
A century which has provided plenty of material for the optimist, only to be offset by an equal amount for the pessimist.
Deepak Mohoni, India
Its been a century of advancement technologically, political change and economic advancement especially for the African continent and liberation and assumption of responsibility in Africa.
Female emancipation
Madness!!
Hey! We survived!!!
A constant drive for efficiency and financial wealth whatever the cost to human life, the right to earn a living and social inclusion.
"He who is in high heavens, he verily knows
Still might make everything right.
Still chasing that dream called happiness-
We made cars, rockets, robots and
everything else on earth which never existed
before to make our lives comfortable
but still aren't happy!! Hopefully we shall
learn it soon.
A century of quest for freedom and equality
A century of subtleties, in retrospect blatant; of innovations callously rendered obsolete;
of lives bought and sold on a supermarket shelf.
This is the Century MANKIND stopped thinking as a Village or Country but realised we are one GLOBAL VILLAGE. Coming to the understanding slowly that what one does in their backyard has far reaching consequence for other innocent people. A time of the dawn of general tolerance and understanding.
Alas with this dawning new age we found horror and destruction from those who refused to give up old thoughts and attitudes. A NEW BABY IS BORN, LONG MAY IT LIVE.
It was the century of establishing dialogue between religions.
It is a century, which, prepared the public to face the next century in terms of new political challenges, technology developments & new social dimension.
Powered flight.
"Just Do It"
Money rules. Ideals are dead. There is no justice, no democracy. The great deception.
It was the best of times and the worst of times, Dickens said and of this century it rings true. Never has human conflict been bloodier but never has there been so much chance of peace. With nations co-operating when in the last century they would have fought to resolve their differences. With science allowing us to beat diseases that have plagued mankind for centuries. Wait and see what happens in the next century.
It can be summed up in the phrase, "The value of human life devalued, the value of technology inflated."
Ray Levy, England
For all the technological advances human kind has not learnt anything. Until we can survive without aggression and war it's doubtful we ever will.
A century where human rights are
recognised, if not respected,
and communications technology
allows everyone to know about the
deficit.
Will we finally be able to resort less to violence and more to diplomacy in the next millennium?
"It's good to talk."
Mankind has demonstrated that it is capable of brilliant steps forward and yet can and will display the traits that have shaped history. Overall the sum value has been a positive one for we can but hope that all our positive achievements will make a better planet in the next Millennium.
"Greed" - those that
had it all, wanted
more, and those that
had nothing got even
less!
Power, Corruption, Lies.
It was a century of constant change and unfinished business. The world is now much smaller and more divided at the same time. In order to have peace in the future there must be justice at both individual and international level.
A regressive progression.
In summary, politics, religion and money conquered the century.
"The Dark Age of Science" - a century reflecting a blind faith in the promise of science and technology, and an application of the same that far too often prove destructive to the Earth and ourselves.
The arrogance of reliance on technology
A small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind.
This century has been no more tragic than previous ones. Since the beginning of time there has been war and persecution but what there hasn't been is such a rapid advance in communication. It's fast and it's going to get faster.
Rupert Delamain, Sultanate of Oman A century that expanded our Mind but shrunk our World.
An increasing number of victories of democracy over autocracy and of science over superstition,
Century filled with irony: An invention to cure a person accompanied by an invention to destroy thousands.
Too much,
too soon,
too quick.
It was the century in which we moved so quickly with our technology, that our ideology is still catching up.
Here's to the 21st Century when the human race will begin to really achieve its potential.
This is the century in which the few enjoy comfort, and the many endure hunger and suffering. The century when there is enough money to wipe hunger from the earth, but people would rather build nuclear missiles and Get 100 channels on cable for some extortionate price.
More were murdered in this century than all the other human centuries combined. In a word: murderous!
We have seen the greatest that the human mind can offer and the darkest reaches of the soul.
EDDIE the EAGLE!
The same as the last one.
An age of beautiful dreams. A time of terrible nightmares. A century of change. An era of enlightenment. The 20th Century: The Century Mankind Achieved Consciousness
This century has proven the heart of mankind has not progressed, and that corruption, greed and Godlessness are still the order of the day.
While it is true that many bad things have happened, the fundamental change is that thanks to global awareness and communication we are now in a position to know and care about them. The same atrocities and hatred has always existed, but we are now in a position to be able to see it and thus make a difference.
The century that buried God.
Over-rated, over-hyped and over-analysed
Auschwitz.
A century of technological advancement but moral destruction among others.
The biggest question is, is mankind is happy with what it has achieved?
Hope the new century may bring peace and goodwill to all of us.
Sushil Kumar Singh, USA
A period of killing, new industrial revolution, anarchy, rise and fall of communism, peace, and world-wide suffering which continues to this day.
This has been the century when the unnatural barriers of colonialism and communism were replaced with nationalism.
'The Four Horseman': This century has seen these characters roll around the world on a regular basis. May the new Millennium bring a new chance, we have not got many left.
This century has produced around 119 electoral democracies since 1900, when there were none. At the same time this century has produced more death and suffering through wars than at any other time in recorded history.
This is almost entirely due to the total spinelessness of our elected representatives, due to their prime allegiance to a party-type system. Get rid of party politics and you may be approaching real democracy.
A lot's happened in the 20th Century, but just wait for the next! We ain't seen nothin' yet!
A period when space-science promised so much (living on Moon, Mars, time travel, etc) but failed to deliver.
The human race has never looked so impressive. In the last two hundred years, we have achieved more than in the previous 800.
In our profligate use of resources we are the generations who won the lottery but squandered it all in an a moment of time.
Sum up the century? How about "Not over for another year"? The BBC should stop perpetuating the misconception that the 21st century starts on January 1st 2000. It doesn't.
A century of blackness and light.
It was the best of times and the worst of times.
The best of times for those at the metropolitan centres of the global village and the worst of times for those on the periphery of the global village.
We are at the dawn of an age where information is the new opium of the masses; where the truly poor will be those denied access to new technology.
War has taught us the tragedy that is total conflict, but all that we have learned is to expect more pain. Give life to the dream of true equality to all mankind - once this is achieved everything is possible.
Peace can be ours.
Century or millennium we've come a long way over the last short period of time.
Surf, laugh, enjoy your life.
We just have to decide on which
way we go from here.
The century in which the tragic gap between our technological prowess and social development became the greatest it has ever been.
With apologies to Dickens: "It was the best of times it was the bloodiest of times".
We went from two world wars that gave mankind new ways to kill each other, to a glorious day when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Such a century. It does prove that out of despair comes hope.
In the widest possible sense of the word "consume", this century can be described by: consume and get consumed.
Secondly, in this century, the richest and
mightiest of the nations on the earth have
pooled their resources to pull the genie called
technology out of the bottle. In the
next century we ALL will have to put this
genie back in the bottle.
The 20th Century was the human race going through adolescence. I don't think we've seen the last of the teenage angst, but I do think we see an increase in the awareness that we had better change our ways if we don't want a crack from dad. The bad boys have bigger toys and the teachers are scared to hit them . . . or are we all just suffering from 'Pre-Millennial Tension'?
Here's to the 21st century - which will make the 20th
look like the Dark Ages. Let's all finally begin to grow up.
The century can be summed up in: "You've come a long way baby".
Too much of anything is too bad. And we had just about too much of everything - too many wars, too much bloodshed, too much hunger, too much greed, too much loosening of morals, too much disrespect for mother nature, too much disrespect for mankind, too much technological advancement and misuse.
Hopefully we'll get our act together and be a more united world and maintain a good balance between the good and bad , reflect upon our deeds in the century and be a much better world next century.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The epoch of greed
Things can only get better. or at least they better had!
My thoughts I think are best covered by a quote from Desiderata. "You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. "Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
"With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a
beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy. "..a good credo for the future too.
Happy new millennium.
Bloody
When our descendants welcome the arrival of the year 3000, the 20th century will undoubtedly be remembered as the one in which humanity left the nursery and we took our first tentative steps to become a space-faring civilisation.
The unification of world, with Coca-Cola. The unification of world around western values about which Gandhi said: "It is a good idea
The death of spirit soul". What else to say....it is self evident.
The paradox of this century? - Man has pushed the envelope in all areas of science and technology in the vain hope of besting nature.
But Mother Earth has shown her muscle in 1999 - Turkey, Venezeula, thousands killed in hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, typhoons. The more we try to control our earth the more it proves who's boss.
Our first faltering step into the universe.
A century where humanity looked up and went higher than sane people before dared try to imagine. A century of looking down to where we have been born, to surrender the arrogance of control over our destiny. A century of greater understanding, with more to learn than ever.
With the start of this century, a trial of wills,
with the end of this century, many wills have been
tested.
Thatcherism.
Even what seems to be the worst could be for the better.
The life of human beings is just a spiral , doing only circles but just one millennium/century higher than the previous one
The Twentieth Century is when we were all born, the Twenty-first shall be when we all die. The West got more pecunious, the South got more numerous while the East got more contumacious. A few people asked what life is all about, fewer did anything about it and we should be grateful to a handful of those.
Science and technology have improved our prospects, but herald unresolved dilemmas for the future.
Consider this century to be an ice age... now, the ice is beginning to melt, the sun beats down upon our faces, we have never felt so warm and comfortable, we can see everything clearly now. Yet, as the snow melts and the true beauty of the human race is revealed for all to see, the ice upon which we skate becomes thinner too...
We finally began to recognise that things could be better but didn't do much about it.
Another century of bloodshed but this time with the help of natural disasters. Who knows maybe peace in the Middle East will inspire world peace next century.
An unbelievable century of great people achieving all manner of great things; all too often spoilt by 'man's belief he stands above all of natures other creations, the desire for short term profit and a lack of appreciation of the future we're cultivating or what we're really leaving behind.
Mine, mine, mine... gimme, gimme, gimme.....
It began with war, poverty and millions of people around the world dispossessed and disenfranchised. It ended much the same way. But hope remains.
This has been the most generous, open and just century ever, democracy has spread round the globe and for the first time in human history injustice and suffering are the exception not the rule for the people of the earth. May the next century see the same progress as the 20th did.
A century of unprecedented technological advancement has changed our environment almost beyond recognition; it has also brought home to us more strongly than ever that the more we change, the more we stay the same.
Nick Higham, Spain
History always repeats itself, but its lessons are always ignored.
A century of great, marvellous technological change, but one where we lost sight of the value of our fellow man.
A roller coaster ride to greater freedom and prosperity for all despite the best efforts of despotic, greedy, corrupt and incompetent leadership.
A century during which man has demonstrated all of his very best, and very worst, abilities. A time of greed and selfishness; of inspiration and inventiveness; of apathy and pride; of courage and determination.
Through all the misery and destruction of the 20th century, the great achievements of our age can be forgotten; but one human attribute shines through as the dawn of a new millennium arrives. Hope. And with hope we can use what we have learned from the last 100 years, and determine to create a brighter future for the earth and all its inhabitants for the centuries to come.
Only if we have learned from mankind's successes and failures of this past century, can we move forward into the next with hope.
The disintegration of family values coupled with
the integration of immoral corporate strategies lead us into
more individualism and fear.
'E=MC squared'
The wars between greed, cruelty and ignorance on the one side and generosity, compassion and understanding on the other, have escalated beyond imagination this last century - fortunately, imagination has been ceaseless in its development as well.
One hundred years spent suffering through ruthless attempts to implement the crackpot ideologies of the 19th Century.
The incredible leaps and bounds in
technology that have seen our societies
world-wide transformed. In one hundred
years we've gone from horse and cart
to the stars. Kevin Casserley, UK Our arrogance was dazzling.
How would I sum up the 20th century?
The decline of Western
civilization.
The 20th Century, a violent, turbulent, time of explosive change where mankind attempted to pull itself out of a tradition of chaos into a new and better age.
It will probably go down in the history
of mankind that the most oppressed
beings, among all creations, are Blacks.
"The Winner Takes It All" - That's what
you are, the 20th!
Blasting, billowing, bursting forth
with the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes.
Man, with his flaming pyre, has conquered the wayward breezes.
Climbing to Tranquillity, far above the cloud, conceiving the heaven
clear of misty shroud.
A century like a spoiled genius.
The 20th Century was the century of science and technology but increased speed and intervention did not necessarily manage to address fundamental needs of the human condition .
Depressing.
The Century Of Conflicting Ideals.
As we emerge from what promises to be our final "dark age", there is hope, borne of science and genuine understanding, that humanity is about to embark upon an adventure the like of which our forefathers could not even have imagined. What an exciting time to be alive!
Mark M. Newdick, USA/UK
The age of self-interest and the decline of belief in anything beyond that we cannot see.
A century of huge technological progress that left spiritual value behind. I hope the next one will be of sharing and compassion.
Struggle: With each other, with the past, with social upheaval, with mindboggling advancement, but most of all with ourselves, and our place in the world.
The 20th century will be
regarded as the most interesting and innovative century
of all history. Our great Grandchildren will remember the
century as the greatest since fire was discovered and
language and writing were invented.
"What a long strange trip it's been"
We tried, we failed, and we still haven't realised that we can't make it on our own.
The century of information and communication for all.
Reach for the moon.
M - many
The 20th century, the good times were great, the bad, well, lest not forget.
A word could sum it up really. That is "Incomplete". There is so much, with the resources we have to hand, that could have been done.
It seems everything was turned upside down - at least in our minds. But remained the same in essence. Communism rose and fell, two world wars with devastating consequences took place, two nuclear bombardments, giant countries were formed and dissolved. Man left Earth, man reached for the depths of the oceans, man tackled the energy of the atom and of the stars, man is one step away from creating life... but at the same time all the positive and negative sides of man stayed the same, keeping humanity the same in essence; that's why the works of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dostoevskij, Dickens et al, did not and will not lose their freshness.
Bloodshed.
I think one word will
sum up what this
century has been like: "hectic"
100 years of lightning development and a race to contain an increasingly fragile world-order.
The best of times and the worst of times.
Global Village.
"One step forward, two steps back," would seem appropriate.
For every positive invention, there is an equally negative one,
for every species saved, more are lost. Perhaps there is an equilibrium,
but it would appear we have a choice of going down the road to destruction or turning around and saving our home.
THE CENTURY OF INTENSITY. Human nature has not changed and will not change. However, technology allows faster, farther reaching, and more intense human activity.
A period of education of seminal thought and endeavour.
A century of highest technological miracles and lowest moral values, the bleak outcome of which awaits to effect us in the 21st century.
Dr. Qamar Abbasi, Ireland
Nations rise and nations fall.
The struggle continues until nothing is left except the truth -
that is what will prevail, and with it will bring peace and justice for all mankind to witness.
It sucks!
I have a dream.
Two things have grown in the minds of men.
Arrogance with technology.
Self-inflated superiority with arrogance.
"No fun!" - Iggy Pop
The century of technology and inventions for better or for worse.
The century in which we conquered the Earth and made first steps into Space.
It was a century much like any other. The rich got richer and the poor died young.
The utter depravity of man has been shown in 100+ ways!
From the Earth to the Moon and everything in between.
The century of unbridled growth...of wealth and poverty, power and weakness, hope and despair, knowledge of those who would pretend to be God and those who have learned they can never be God.
The 20th century has been one of war. But there is hope ahead. Humanity can find hope in Christ Jesus, if we can get past our pride.
A century where the will of a few
has determined the future of the
rest.
We've never had it so good.
A whole lot more of the same twisted ape, preening about with flashier intellectual and material toys, mindlessly creating ever more colourful versions of hell.
A century that has taught us many things. We can only survive through learning more and more ..!
The Grandeur of Delusion is how I see this century.
The only one of 99 years - but where 99 centuries happened.
Too many people with too many opinions and too much opportunity to voice them.
Hell on earth, now let's strive for heaven on earth before it's to late and our kids have nothing left.
Nation against Nation, Kingdom against Kingdom. The fate of billions rests in the hands of greedy men. Love conquers all.
A century when the value of a human life became less than that of oil or money.
A century that has seen massive technological stides taken, but not made available to the poor. A century that has pushed the Earth and its resorces to near breaking point. A century that for all the good that has gone on, we should still be ashamed of ourselves.
Let's not make the same mistakes in the next.
Disclaimer: The BBC will put up as many of your comments as possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published. The BBC reserves the right to edit comments that are published.David Minnie, South Africa
The Ironic Age
It's all "relative".
"Let me see your papers please...now, wait in that line.."
It's a small world after all.
So much knowledge;
so little wisdom!
Despite the advances in knowledge and information, the arrogantly ignorant few still set the agenda for the majority!
"Out of this world"
Show me the money...
"Earth,this is Mankind, we have a problem".
Brighter lights,
deeper shadows
A century in which the actions of a minority of individuals have counted for more than the actions of the majority of politicians.
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