New year...New Decade???

The '00's have ended and the '10's have begun...We have embarked on a new Year.  But have we entered a new Decade?  Or will the Decade begin with the year 2011?  This is a huge controversy.  One that should be carefully considered by every thinking person.  (I am assuming that we all are thinking persons, but that may not be completely accurate.)  I almost hesitate to bring up this subject for fear that it will be used to divide the American People for some political gain or other.  But I will persevere.

Some said way back when the '00's began, that 2000 was the end of the 20th Century, rather than the beginning of the 21st Century.  Some said the earth would stop spinning on that day, that life as we knew it would end.  The computers wouldn't work and we would be harvesting each other for food before long.  There were a whole lot of predictions of gloom and doom because not only was 2000 the beginning of a new Century it was a whole new Millennium. I am sure that everyone remembers that, and what happened on Jan 1, 2000.  Absolutely nothing!  Just like every other New Year's day.

We were not out of the woods yet though, because some believed that the New Millennium didn't begin until Jan 1,2001!  However again nothing happened that had not happened before.  We all kept on being, computers worked and cannibalism has not become worse.

Now it seems to me that we need to decide whether or not our numbering system starts with 0 or 1.  We are taught to count in school starting with 1, with ten being the 10th number.  That makes sense doesn't it?  Following that way of thinking then '10 is the tenth year of the decade, so the new Decade will begin next January 1st.  So there we have it.  Everything is all settled.  An open and shut case.

But wait.  We are talking years here.  Not something like apples, where the difference between having none (0) and having one is very evident.  One apple is 1, ten apples is 10.  But years are different, it seems to me.  There is not all of a sudden one year.  It takes a whole year, 365 days, to make a year.  A year is a concept while an apple is an object.  Now the counting has to begin at zero (0) as in 0,1,2,-9. 10 is the beginning of the next Decade!

You doubt me??? Well, let's examine the problem from a different situation (sort of).  Say you have a child born to your family.  That child's birth day is the beginning of his life.  He has lived a whole year on his first birthday.  His life started at (0) when he was born.  The second year of his life begins on his first birthday, and the 10th year of his life begins on his 9th birthday.  So that decade ends on 9.  Clear as mud, right?

I am not actually in favor of counting years that way.  I just think that is the correct way.  Using that method of counting, I am half way through my 68th year rather than being 'only' 67.  Unfortunately that is correct.  I will have lived -completed- 68 years on my next birthday.  OMG... now I wish I had not started this blog.  67 is not so bad, only a little more that 65, but I am about to begin my 69th year which is almost 70 and 70 could be construed be mean 'OLD'...I believe I am going to get depressed!

Well OK, maybe not depressed.  I am sure that my 'true age' as found by those tests on the Internet would be around 40-45.  I am positive of it.  I have hardly changed at all since I was say 25.  Just ask my kids!  On second thought, don't.  I am sure our perspectives are quite different.  They will get to my perspective though.

I am sure that my clear thinking on this subject (whether or not 2010 is the beginning of a new Decade or not) has cast a bright light on any controversy and will put all and sundry other opinions at rest!

Happy New Year!  Happy New Decade!!  Let us hope that the new year and decade bring us a much better life than the did the past did!