The 20th Century

I have a lot of memories involving the twentieth century. I was blessed enough to live in both the 20th century and the 21st century. Today, it is amazing to see young adults who never saw the 20th century before in their lives (as many 21 years old were born in the year of 2001). Now, it is the perfect time to reflect on the wide-ranging 20th century too. It was a century that lasted from January 1, 1901, to December 31, 2000. It was a time of massive cultural and social developments, world wars, and a sense of a change in humanity. Humanity gained massive technological access, growth of medical innovations, and a new sense of transportation. Although, the same problems of bigotry, poverty, sexism, xenophobia, and other injustices continued to plagued the human race like it always have been. During the 20th century, I was a child and teenager. I was in my adulthood by the 21st century. By the end of the 20th century, I was a teenager, but the 20th century defined my life in many ways. The 20th century is the most important century in human history, because it saw massive decolonization (which saw Nigeria, India, Ghana, and other nations see freedom from imperialism), the defeat of the Axis Powers by the Allied Powers during WWII, the end of legalized Jim Crow apartheid in America, space exploration, the growth of nuclear weapons, the end of South African apartheid, Middle Eastern conflicts, and the end of the Cold War. It made us aware of how wicked some human beings can be, and it showed the breadth of compassion and empathy that tons of human beings do possess. I lived in the last few decades of the 20th century, and my memories of that time then are as vivid as my memories of the 21st century now. When I was in the 20th century, I lived through Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Columbine, The Million Man March (when not a single person in that march stormed the U.S. Capitol back in 1995), Tupac, Biggie, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Waco, the OKC Bombing, Michael Jordan, and so many other occurrences. After all of these years of me living on this Earth, I firmly realize that the 20th century was a one of a time era of the overall human journey.

By Timothy