There’s a meme that says “nothing ever happens.” This is usually in response to predictions of some major catastrophe that fail to materialize, as in the joke that economists have predicted ten of the last two recessions. If we constantly hear that the end is near, yet it never arrives, then we tend to assume it never will.
This leads to two equal errors: some are tempted to believe that Big Things are constantly happening (sometimes behind the scenes) while others are tempted to believe that Nothing Ever Happens. Human beings have both a strong normalcy bias as well as a great ability to adapt quickly to the new normal, which means we tend to assume that nothing really happens even though hindsight shows that it obviously does.
Just for fun, I decided to look back at my own lifetime to see what has happened since I opened my eyes on this earth:
1984
- Ronald Reagan wins a 49-state landslide.
1985
- The wreck of RMS Titanic was discovered off the coast of Newfoundland.
1986
- Space Shuttle Challenger explodes, killing all seven crew members.
1989
- The Berlin Wall, a symbol of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War, is torn down.
1990
- Germany becomes a unified nation again.
1991
- The United States and its allies win an overwhelming victory in the Gulf War.
- Yugoslavia begins the process of breaking into several smaller nations.
- The Soviet Union collapses, ending 74 years of communist domination of the region.
1992
- Bill Clinton is elected as the first Baby Boomer president.
1993
- Mosaic, the first widely available web browser, opens the internet to regular people.
1994
- NAFTA goes into effect, creating a free trade zone between the US, Canada, and Mexico.
- Republicans win a massive landslide in Congress, winning control of the House for the first time since 1954.
1995
- Craigslist is launched by Craig Newmark, beginning the decline of newspaper revenue via classified ads.
1996
- Bill Clinton becomes the first Democrat to win a second term since FDR in 1936.
1997
- At age 21, Tiger Woods becomes the youngest person to win the Masters.
1998
- The House impeaches Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal, only the second president to be so indicted. He is acquitted by the Senate.
2000
- George W. Bush narrowly defeats Al Gore after a razor-thin victory in Florida. It takes weeks to count and recount the votes.
2001
- George W. Bush enters office with a fully Republican Congress for the first time since Dwight Eisenhower.
- The Seattle Mariners win a record 116 games but fail to make the World Series. (Still hurts!)
- 9/11.
- The US invades Afghanistan, topples the Taliban. (For the moment.)
- The US grants China permanent normal trade relations.
2003
- The US invades Iraq, topples Saddam Hussein.
2004
- Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dorm room, revolutionizing social media.
- A Republican presidential candidate wins the popular vote for the first time since 1988 and the last time to date.
2005
- Hurricane Katrina devastates Louisiana and Mississippi.
2006
- The population of the United States crosses 300 million people.
2007
- The first iPhone is introduced by Steve Jobs.
2008
- The collapse of the housing market sparks the Great Recession.
- Barack Obama becomes America’s first black president, as well as the first northern Democrat to win election since JFK in 1960.
2011
- Seal Team 6 locates and killed Osama bin Laden.
2012
- The remains of King Richard III of England are discovered under a parking lot in Leicester.
2013
- Edward Snowden reveals that US government agencies routinely spy on American citizens; left trapped in Russia when government cancels his passport.
2014
- I got married!
- US intelligence agencies support the Maidan coup in Kiev, ousting Ukraine’s elected president and installing a new one more favorable to NATO. Russia responds by seizing the Crimean Peninsula.
2015
- SpaceX lands a rocket back on earth for the first time.
2016
- The people of Great Britain vote to leave the European Union.
- The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908.
- Donald Trump elected president, the first person with no political or military experience to achieve that office.
2017
- Donald Trump becomes the oldest person to be inaugurated as president, entering office with a Republican Congress.
2019
- Donald Trump becomes the first American president to visit North Korea.
2020
- Donald Trump is impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate.
- Bureaucrats and elected officials shut down most of our country because of a virus.
- Joe Biden wins the “fortified” election that featured mass mail-in ballots and numerous questions about election integrity.
2021
- Donald Trump is impeached and acquitted a second time.
- Joe Biden becomes the oldest person to become inaugurated as president.
- US withdraws from Afghanistan in chaos; the Taliban retakes Kabul.
2022
- Russia invades Ukraine, aiming to annex the Donbass regions and prevent the country from joining NATO.
- The Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, returning the issue of abortion to the states after 49 years.
- Elon Musk buys Twitter, promising to restore freedom of speech and resist government censorship.
2024
- A would-be assassin shoots Donald Trump in the ear at a rally, killing one and injuring others
- Joe Biden, the incumbent Democrat president, withdraws from the campaign after winning the primary — the first time in history.
- Donald Trump wins a third consecutive Republican nomination for president, matching Grover Cleveland and behind only FDR for major party presidential candidates.
You get the picture. The only reason it seems like nothing ever happens is because things are constantly happening, slowly but surely. That’s not to say that you or I have the the leverage to influence world events of the sort that I put on this list, but we can influence the happenings of our state and our communities.
Every moment of your life is a moment of history, and it’s up to you to decide what to do with the time you’ve been given. Where you spend your time, energy, and money today will help determine what kind of world your children and grandchildren will inherit, so it’s spend it wisely!
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