Top 5 Stories Of The Decade

The year was 1999 and we were on the threshold of a new millennium. People were panic stricken over the theory that the world's computers would crash when the year 2000 rolled in. President Bill Clinton assured us that the world would be safe and as the ball dropped at midnight on Time Square in New York City, we all would find out the Y2K wouldn't come.

This was the beginning of the 21st century. The world celebrated. Jobs were plentiful. Gas prices averaged $1.09 a gallon and the World Trade Center held the title of the tallest building in New York City.

As quickly as the new century rolled in the world would prove to change just as fast. Here is my list of the top events that shaped this decade and our every day lives.

5.) Hurricane Katrina: August 29, 2005. When hurricane Katrina, a category 3 hurricane, struck New Orleans, no one was prepared to what was to come. The intense rains and winds from the storm breached the levees which held back water from from flooding the city which sat below sea level. In the end, over 1,800 lives were lost, 200,000 homes were destroyed, 1,000,000 people were homeless and over 1,000,000,000 dollars in damage was done. What was most shocking in this disaster was the lack of response of President Bush and our federal government, which took days to send help to save the drowning city and it's dying residence.

4.) President Barack Obama: On January 20, 2009, the United States Of America swore in the first African-American President. This would be a major turning point in a history of racism and prejudice toward blacks in our country.

3.) The Iraq War: It began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by multinational forces led by the United States which believed that Iraq possessed "Weapons Of Mass Destruction". This would later prove to be misinformation from government sources. The Iraqi government, which proved to be inhumanly cruel to it's civilians would soon be over thrown. It's President President Hussein would be executed after being found guilty of crimes against humanity and the war would continue because of beliefs of Iraq's ties to terrorist groups which threatened out nation and the world. As of December 26, 2009 nearly 5 thousand American soldiers lives were lost, over 100 thousand civilian died and nearly 800 billion dollars was spent on the war

2. The Recession: It began in December 2007 when our nation's banks began to fail in part of loans that couldn't be paid back. Soon businesses began to close, homes were foreclosed and the unemployment rate shot through the ceiling hitting a high of 11.8 %.

1. The Terrorist Attacks Of September 11, 2001: On a bright and sunny Tuesday morning in September, terrorist would hijack 4 airliners on east coast of the United States. Two of these planes would be used as missiles and fly straight into The World Trade Center buildings in New York City causing the buildings to collapse on the streets below. In Washington, DC, the third plane would crash into the Pentagon Building, destroying a portion of the structure. The fourth plane, United Flight 93 would target Washington, DC but would never reach it's destination. After learning the hijackers' plan to crash the plane into a building in Washington, the planes passengers would rise up and storm the hijackers moments before the plane would crash in a field in Pennsylvania. A total of 2,976 people would lose their lives on this day.

It's almost amazing the we survived the first 10 years of the 21st century. Let us all hope that the next 10 go more smoothly.