Dawn of a New Century

"It is in changing that things find purpose" wrote Greek philosopher Heraclitus many centuries ago. And as the dawn of a new century arrives, we look back upon the historic events that have dominated our lives and our thoughts: The many leaders and heroes that gave our history a kaliedoscope of voices and faces; the remarkable achievements in medicine, science and technology.

Just a few of the many changes our generation has witnessed in a single century include the discovery of penicillin, man’s landing on the moon, the transplant of human organs and the marvels of the computer.This century also let us witness the cruelty of World Wars and the beginning and end of a Cold War. The growing understanding between different countries and cultures. But let us not forget, in these changing days, the darker chapters of a closing century: the Holocaust; Hiroshima; the isolation of the Berlin Wall; and equally unpleasant historical markers that mankind has left as scars on civilization's memory. And as we welcome a new century, we also leave unresolved problems for our children: the gradual destruction of our planet thanks to increasing pollution; destruction of rain forests and ozone layers; starvation and epidemics in the Third World and perpetual conflicts between religions, races and cultures that seem to ignite effortlessly. We who do not learn from history's mistakes, it is written, are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again. Thus, at the dawn of a new century, it is our history that we hand our children as their heritage and their inheritance as the dream of a better, more promising future.

The scars of the past are wounds we all share, yet with this knowledge, we continue to march forward to greet the dawn with faith and hope. In the book of mankind another page has been written, and as we turn it over, a new and blank sheet unfolds-a new chapter begins. What will our children read by the end of the next century?

The opening narration is written by Peter Skavlan and narrated by John Kavanagh. Anuna is performing the closing section with a hymn of hope.

Scored and conducted by John Tate.
Fionnuala Sherry and Rolf Lovland