One Hundred Years

By T. John Kovack

 

It was a cold New Year’s Eve of 1999 and I witnessed a century pass through my mind,
One hundred years and I lived through them all, it was all quite astonishing as I recall.
The joys and depressions, the bliss and the tears, what fabulous memories of 100 years,
The door flew wide open, my grandkids appeared, they hopped on my lap and grabbed hold of my beard.
“Calm down my two angels,” I said as they whined. “You’re about to take a journey way back into time,
I have so many memories to ponder and dwell, so sit down and listen to what I’m ‘bout to tell.
These past hundred years have been special indeed and I want you to hear it and listen to me.”
I’d recount the long century to Taylor and Tori, I rewound my memory and started my story……

 

“King Humbert was murdered as the century began and the Russians made war with east rival, Japan,
Picasso, Pope Pius the first auto show, the Panama Canal and the Belgian Congo.
Walt Disney is born, the first Rose Bowl is played, the U.S. found right to Guantanomo Bay,
Teddy took power and won a Peace Prize, while Einstein’s inventions were high on the rise.
The deadliest earthquake shook ‘Golden Gate’, Oklahoma’s admitted as the 46th state,
Bakelite, Railroads, the Wright Brothers Flight, Gandhi, the Kodak, the new copyright.
McKinley is murdered, the Entente is formed, Rockefeller’s rich, and baseball is born,
Henry Ford’s motor and his new model-T, made automobiles rise to a higher degree.

 

The second decade started down south of the border, where Mexico was failing to stabilize order,
Kaftka, Bingham and author Tom Marin, Arcadia Park and the colossal Grand Canyon.
The sinking Titanic cost hundreds of lives, the ship Lusitania failed to survive,
The Department of Labor, the Income Tax Rate, Knute Rockne’s a star, Arizona’s a state.
The U.S. and British were under the gun, by Mexico and Germany in World War I,
Lenin, the Bolsheveiks, the Treaty of Versailles, the Archduke of Austria, Ferdinand, died.
Wilson’s fourteen-point solution for peace, ended the war but left millions deceased,
The spreading of jazz, the New York Times news, and twenty million die from the worst ever flu.

 

The twenties came roarin’ along with “the Babe’, the Winter Olympics and Macy’s Parade,
Harding, Hoover, the rhythm and blues, Little Orphan Annie and Winnie the Pooh.
The stock market crashes, the climb of Capone, Stalin rises up to the Soviet throne,
Mickey and Donald, the Klan’s in D.C., Italians hand power to Moussilini.
The Great Earthquake in Tokyo, Hitler in prison, women can vote and the new prohibition,
Gehrig, Ulysses, the growing U.K., the civil war in Russia and the new IRA.
Bolivia and Paraguay battle and brawl, the radio’s invented and Germany falls,
The Lincoln Memorial, Lindbergh’s in France, and penicillin offers a major advance.

 

The Depression grew sick as the 30s came in, the Nazis and Hitler take hold of Berlin,
Alcatraz, Chadwick, the film ‘Snow White’, Amelia Earhardt has vanished from sight.
Four million jobless as businesses die, but the New Deal of Roosevelt keeps us alive,
‘The Star Spangled Banner’, ‘Gone With the Wind,’ and the second World War was about to begin.
Irish and Catholics have a disorder, the Germans start war by invading their border,
Pluto, the World Cup, ‘Joltin’ Joe D., China's invaded by the resurged Japanese.
Roosevelt adopted the minimum wage, the nation of Spain is in civil war rage,
‘The Wizard of Oz’, the famed Wagner Act, the Scottsboro affair and the Jews are attacked.

 

The 40s and World War II were a match, as Japan put Pearl Harbor under attack,
D-Day, the Nazis, the Atomic Bomb, Holocaust, Stalingrad, Hitler is gone.
Germany and Japan would surrender in peace, Roosevelt sadly dies of disease,
Germany’s split, the computer’s designed, NATO’s constructed, the stock market climbed.
Great Jackie Robinson makes the big leagues, Gandhi is murdered but India’s free,
Dr. Spock, Churchill, Peron in command, Truman, Sinatra, TV expands.
Debuts of ‘Fantasia’ and ‘Citizen Kane’, the new instant coffee to wake up the brain,
American and Soviet tension heats up, as the famous Cold War was about to erupt.

 

The Korean War came as the 50s arrived, the Rosenburgs espionage cost them their lives,
MacArthur, McCarthy, Dwight Eisenhower, Kruschschev and Castro rise up to power.
Alaska and Hawaii would join the U.S., the satellite Sputnik surpasses its test,
Vaccine is discovered, Mantle’s at bat, ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ and ‘The Cat in the Hat’.
NASA’s created to help us reach space, riots break out over color and race,
Rosa Parks, Pasternak, Everest climbed, Elvis and Hemmingway star in their prime.
Sugar Ray Robinson and Marilyn Monroe, the GNP rises and triples in growth,
Disneyland and ‘The Sound of Music’ debut, Vietnam’s divided at Dien Bien Phu.

 

The Vietnam War in the 60s ballooned, Neil Armstrong’s the first man to walk on the moon,
Hitchcock, Woodstock, ‘Star Trek’ begins, Johnson, Nixon, the wall in Berlin.
President Kennedy’s shot in the head, in two days his killer, Lee Oswald, is dead,
The Bay o’ Pigs invasion and Dr. King’s dream, Zedong makes communism China’s regime.
The rise of the Beatles and Sonny and Cher, a missile crisis causes a nuclear scare,
U2, John Glenn, Ali in the ring, the murders of Malcolm X and Dr. King,
The swing of Jack Nicklaus, RFK’s killed, ‘Sesame Street’ and the Civil Rights Bill,
Hurricane Camille, The Rolling Stones Band, and Vietnam protests get way out of hand.

 

In the 70s the Vietnam War would unwind, the Watergate scandal makes Nixon resign,
Carter, Cambodia, war in Lebanon, the rise of inflation and the fall of Saigon.
Foreman put ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier to rest, hot disco fever spreads across the U.S.,
Snipers hit Munich, Roe vs. Wade, large riots and murders break out at Kent State.
Elvis is dead (at least that’s what they say), the enormous Sears Tower went out on display,
Ford, the Bee Gees, smoking’s increased, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Mash’, ‘The Godfather’, ‘Grease’.
American hostages stuck in Iran, The Soviets invasion of Afghanistan,
Vote at 18, Hank Aaron’s a star, and problems continue with the U.S.S.R.

 

The 80s saw the Cold War come to a close, the space Challenger sadly explodes,
Gorbachev, Reagan, Iran vs. Iraq, MTV, aids, suicide, crack.
‘The Beatles’ John Lennon is killed by a shot, the rise of Madonna and the breakout of rock,
Diana’s a princess, Valdez underground, and the wall in Berlin comes tumbling down.
Reagan is shot, but he’s not killed as planned, and American hostages return from Iran,
CNN, ‘Cheers’, Chernobyl, ‘ET’, Oliver North and Indira Gandhi.
The eruption of Mt. St. Helens out West, Noriega is captured and under arrest,
Nintendo premieres and is a hit at the stores, and American hockey wins gold in New York

 

The 90s saw war with Hussein and Iraq, Atlanta and Oklahoma’s under attack,
Rodney King, WACO, school massacres, ‘Seinfeld’, the internet, John Glenn returns.
Hurricane Andrew and rap music grows, TWA Flight 800 explodes,
The Trade Center’s bombed, the Soviets split, singers Garth Brooks and Celine Dion are hits.
Clinton’s impeached for obstruction and lies, the Princess Diana most tragically dies,

Tiger Woods, steroids, Michael "Air" Jordan, Bush, Kosovo, new sound recording.
The trial of OJ’s all over TV, ‘Titanic’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ hit the big screen,
The death of the son of the late JFK, and the 2000 millenium’s headed our way.”

 

I ended with that and I let out a sigh, but then Taylor looked at me and said in reply,
“That’s wonderful Grandpa, there was so much to see, will it be as exciting this next century?”
I looked at my grandkids and thought for a while, I thought of the future and said with a smile,
“The 21st century’ll see changes, though you could see disaster with nuclear war.
There still will be drugs, more violence and sex, a woman as president would be a good bet,
You guys may call Mars as your every day home, attention on the media and computers will grow.
Each moment gets better as time wanders by, you two will see changes each day til you die.”
The clock then read midnight, the new year was here, a year that would start the next 100 years.

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The End