It was 100 years ago to the day, and yet people were struggling. Japan had just elected a new leader. The world around it had suffered from coups, from militant governments, from the wake of the travesty it had brought upon itself. Parisians struggled to balance the weight of their citizens with the value of foreigners that had so desperately fought to live there.
It was 200 years ago to the day, and yet people were struggling in different ways. The Era of Good Feelings had just come to a halt, dividing the nation into two staunchly different political sects. The Presidential election had been disputed by thousands of people, causing even more disarray in a fractioned state. Pedro I was abdicated as King of Portugal, ushering in an era marked by scandal, authoritarianism, and distrust.
It was 2,000 years ago to the day, and yet people were conquered. The world was predominantly ruled by one empire. The average life expectancy was nearly 35 years, with child and infant mortality leading the way. Summers were amongst the coldest on Earth, the rains wiping out nearly any progress that the Mediterranean farmers had made.
It was 4.5 billion years ago, before memory, before history, before anyone was around to feel the weight of either. Time, as it was, would come to keep two sets of records.
It was 2,000 years ago to the day. Ovid’s Metamorphoses was being copied and shared across the Roman world. Scholars in Alexandria were preserving texts that would carry human knowledge through the darkness ahead. Remarkably, glassblowing had just been invented, transforming sand into transparency.
It was 200 years ago to the day. Felix Mendelssohn had just completed the overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor, captured the very first photograph, one that still survives to this day. The Last of the Mohicans, a monumental snapshot of American history, was first published and distributed to the Philadelphian masses.
It was 100 years ago to the day. The United Kingdom general strike began promptly, urging the government to act on behalf of its laborers. Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to successfully swim the distance from France to England, crossing the channel herself. Winnie the Pooh made its debut before charming millions of households and children across the globe.
It is today, some 2,000 years later. And there is nothing to look forward to but tomorrow.
Not to the day, but 100 years ago exactly, my grandparents immigrated to Canada.
Winnie the Pooh is actually named for Winnipeg Canada, my hometown.