THE 1970s - A LOOK BACK: EDITORIAL: The passing of a decade (12/30/79)

THE 1970s - A LOOK BACK

EDITORIAL

The passing of a decade

At midnight Monday, December 31, 1979, the chimes should peal tenfold for every year of the decade that will be history as the doors open on a new one in accordance with man's delineation of time. By the same token, the intensity of our reassessment of what has been will also be multiplied 10 times as will our hopes and expectations on the threshold of a new decade.

Sentimental and nostalgic as it may, this reassessment, if placed in the context of history, can be a learning process. For it is a simple truism that we study that past to avoid the pitfalls of the future, and in that sense it is a rational process that constitutes an essential prerequisite of success in the future.

Not unlike the previous decades, the one that we are leaving behind was one of contrasts. It saw man's genius continue making historic breakthroughs in the exploration of space, yet at the same time, that very genius could provide neither food, nor heat, nor shelter for millions around the globe, much less conquer many a disease that inflict inhuman suffering and hopeless ordeals.

In terms of human values, it was a decade that ushered a new era of freedom for some, yet failed to break the stony walls of oppression for many others. Few were more downtrodden than our people in their maligned land. The rustling winds of renascence that swept across Ukraine in the 1960s were swallowed in the eye of the tornado of suppression. Indeed, for the Ukrainian people the past decade leaves but bitter memories of a nation in chains, though not devoid of determination to fight on, hoping the freedom, like man's foot on the moon, will make a breakthrough for them.

Heartened by our voices here, they will continue to look to us for solace and for support. Let us remember that in our personal and collective reassessments as we prepare to turn another page in history.

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