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Show End ofthe affair. Bill Clinton became the second U.S. President:to be impeached by the House— the Senate voted not to remove from office. Engaged at 45. The resolutely single Jerry Seinteld finally committed to Jessioa Sklar, 28. A Special Gift for Our Readers By Diane Ackerman Mux Shots/TheStock Market Best Wishes For The New Millennium wedtoes of 3500 lives, Northern are choosing a new path. ne dayin the life of Earth. As dawn Or the Sun washesoverthe planetas it has done millions of timesin recorded history. From a small farming townin the heart of our country, to our south in a rainforestin Brazil, to our north in Churchill, Canada— where polar bears sometimes meander down the main street—people are waking up, making breakfast, going about their morning chores. Onthis day, promises will be made, trails will be blazed,art will be created, and the world’s stock markets will rise andfall. Love will flourish. Hearts will be broken. Childrenwill learn to speak. People will worry and pray. Somewill taketheirfirst breath, and others their last. Civilization will go onits green in- evitable wayas it has for millennia. Our humanstory began with small bands of hunters and foragers desperately trying to survive in a harshclimate. Through cunning,ingenuity and cooperation, they did, and more than 15 millennia later—a mereblink in the history of the cosmos—wearegreat swarms ofpeople. Poets, astronauts, tamers ofcities, people who have not forgotten how to wish. We are masons, blacksmiths, teachers, lawyers. We have invented machinesin which wefly, submersiblesto patrol the secret recesses of the oceans. We have polished the marble of ourcities and also filled them with decay. We have homesteaded the night with lights, turningit into a dazzling country. We have learned sin and shame, new words for hate. We perform towering feats ofaltruism.Littleofit was planned.It sim- viewed the comet Hale-Bopp.Entering struck by how different the planet would have seemed betweenvisi With each return,it beiefty spotlights Earth and one chapterin the long human saga. Some have compared HaleBoppto a time capsule. On its previous visit, around 2000 B.C., Earth was a dark planet withoutits now-familiar encrustationsofcity lights. The Egyptian pyramids were only about 400 years old; the planeofthe planets ata right angle, Hale-Bopp hadlast sliced through our solar system 4000 years earlier. Most of what weassociate with civilization happened in the past four millennia, I suppose in the scope of cosmic time, 4000 years is a flicker, but whenI picture the comet's last tour of Earth, I'm the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans didn’t exist. The comet's appearance probably caused havoc on Earth. Regarded as doom stars, comets usually foretold change and disaster, Indeed, the word “disaster” comes from astrum,the Latin for “star.” When comets appeared mys- ply happened—child by child, loved one by loved one,piece by piece—over the great caravan of human history. Twoyears ago, many people of Earth the plow was high technology in Europe; teriously to smear light across the heavens, it meant the gods were angry, and so wars were waged, empires fell, rulers died. With this recent visit, the Earth waslit like a sparkling jewel. There seemed to be as many constellations on the ground as in the sky. Ignorance and unhappiness still rampaged, humansand otheranimalsstill struggled for survival, lovers quaked and yearned as they always have. But what a change in the complexion of human life, in the idea of transportation, communication, education, art, beauty, religion, science, medicine. After all, we only began conqueringdiseases a century ago. Whatwill the comet witness 2400 years from now, whenit’s next scheduled to appear? Will Earth exist? Will humans? Whattruths will they have learned?I ache to see that future Earth, to know the triumphs. and struggles of those distant people, who will have other worlds to conquer, othernights to cross. Forthose future residents of Earth: Maytheir world still be packed with mysteries. May theystill grow giddy on the eve of a great adventure. May they become more responsible to one another and to the planet. May they keep their taste for the renegade. May they never lose their sense of innocence and wonder. Maythey live to chase brash and astonishing dreams, a Adapted from “Deep Play.” coriah(©1999 by Diane ‘Ackerman, published by PAGE 14» DECEMBER 26, 1980 | PARADE MAGAZINE |
