The envelope please ...And the Randy Boyd's Blocks Award for Best Thing to Happen in the O-Os, also know as the first decade of the 21st century--because of all the O's in all the years, duh!--goes to ...
No, not digital cell phones and all their bells and whistles, like cameras, texting and music players, although all those things are pretty cool to have on a mobile phone, which in the last decade, especially after 9/11, became as common on the planet as humans themselves.
No, not digital cameras, which revolutionized the way we take, store and share pictures, or MP3 players, which revolutionized the way we listen to, buy and share music, although who isn't thankful those gadgets were finally ready for mass consumption in the decade just ended?
No, not social networking sites like myspace and Facebook. Not YouTube, which debuted
midway through the decade and changed EVERYTHING.No, not digital video recorders, although DVRs forever altered the way humans watched television, turned a brand name, Tivo, into a verb--I Tivo'ed it!--and perhaps ranks as humankind's finest moment in time.
No, not flat screen TVs, which forever changed the space in our homes, and spared the world a whole lot of backaches.
No, not the Trikke, joyride of the 21st century, although the three-wheeled, newfangled "bike" is still in the running for Best Invention Since the Wheel.
No, not the existence of gay TV networks or the first viable woman candidate for presidency of the United States--Mrs. Clinton, not Mrs. Palin--or even the election of the first black man of said United States.
That's right, the Best Thing to Happen in the O-Os, also know as the first decade of the 21st century, is not President Obama or any of the decade's great gadgets, like the iPod and the iPhone.
The Award goes to ... Science, who made it possible for AIDS to become a manageable disease.
Twenty-five years ago, children were barred from schools for being the innocent victims of tainted blood transfusions. Politicians were lining up ballad measures to quarantine people.
America and the world was hysterical about AIDS. The life expectancy for anyone living with the virus, including myself, was 12-18 months.The late 1990s saw the first breakthrough medications. The last decade saw Science get the upper hand on HIV and the apocalyptic plague of the latter part of the 20th century.
That is why the Randy Boyd's Blocks Award for Best Thing to Happen in the O-Os goes to Science, for its heroic efforts with HIV/AIDS.
Thank you, Science. Because of you, I've lived long enough to Trikke while listening to my iPod and Tivo President Barack Obama anytime I want. Makes me eager to see what's ahead in the next decade.
Perhaps the world mobilizing to save the millions all over the planet who are infected with HIV without the benefits of modern medicine? Perhaps America mobilizing to stop the new AIDS epidemic among the young within its own borders? Perhaps the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS finally disappearing?
We can dream, can't we?
