The Millennium Baby
She has just turned seventeen
And full of the delights of life
As she sits outside the Café la Fontaine Saint Michel,
Sipping from her cup of virtual reality.
Her world and that of her other Millenniums
Are so different from the generations before –
So different they have nothing in common.
Hers is digital and technological
With little hang-ups or moral taboos
It’s fast, furious and frantic.
A virtual world where anything goes,
A virtual world where love is a four letter word
Where, if found, will be difficult to sustain
Where relationships will come and go
As quickly as a click on her digital device.
The millennium baby is her own child
Locked within her own digital reality
With the world at the tips of her technological fingers
And her inflated image locked in an ego bubble
Spinning around in an out-of-control orbit.
She will have to look forward to a life that will change
At an erratic and alarming speed without any safety nets
To save her from the slings and arrows of life.
Her millennium male counterpart is destined to suffer
At the hands of the millennium babies and their dominance
As they find it difficult to match their ambitions and desires.
They risk becoming mentally and physically impotent
As their place in the scheme of things is challenged
With their masculinity being undermined at every turn.
But is this millennium baby and her generation
Any better off than the ones gone before?
Are they in touch with something the others were not?
Are they special and blessed with their technological knowhow?
Are they mistresses and masters of their own destinies?
Or just robotic lackeys being driven by hi-tec industries
No, they are not and never will be and never can.
Even with all their extraordinary technological talents
Their generation is as equal as any other before
For each generation is always special to those living it
It’s their reality whether virtual or not
It’s their world to live, their world to do as they see fit.
So this millennium baby as she sips her cup of virtual reality
Outside the Café la Fontaine Saint Michel
Will have a future that will keep the world turning
But at a technological speed she and other millennials
Will have to live with and have no control over,
They will advance humanity for better or worse
As each generation has done before
As each will continue to do so in their special way,
At what price to the fabric of the Human Condition,
Only Time, in its inimitable way, will surely tell.
Café la Fontaine Saint Michel, Place Saint-Michel, 7emè