|
 As
far as Bikwil is concerned, this January does not usher in some
special new thousand-year period — despite the fact that the year starts
with a “2” for the first time.
Not
that the sensible readers of this magazine need any
telling. And it doesn’t have anything to do with whether
there was a Year Zero or not between 1 BC and 1 AD. That
only compounds the problem.
No.
Surely anyone under the age of death who can mentally step from one to
ten knows the apocalyptic truth: anniversaries (e.g. birthdays) take
place at the end of the year, not the beginning. In purely counting
terms, then, we are this month still a full gratification-postponing
year away from the authentic moment. So there’s plenty of time yet
before millenniumites need be rejoicing — or trembling at “the beginning
of the end”, if that’s their chiliastic inclination.
And as
we wait, perhaps we can find some quietly optimistic (and perverse)
solace in these lines from Byron’s Marino Faliero:
But
this day, black within the calendar,
Shall
be succeeded by a bright millenium.
For all
that, I trust your computers are going well.
|
