The Millennium Baby

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