Editorial: Anniversaries help us to reflect on a fast-changing world

OPINION: There are some exceptions: the 21st birthday and the 25th wedding anniversary are notable among them.

The Anzac Day commemorations, too, have become an increasingly important historic marker in New Zealand's present and are seemingly gaining in reverence year after year. These aside, we have an ever-so-slightly bizarre fascination with round-number anniversaries.

No doubt this is largely due to the decimal numbering system itself. Imagine, however, if it had been built around multiples of 8, seen by some as a symbol of infinity and the luckiest number among Chinese. Or if we had swung in behind the Devil-worshippers and opted for 6 as the numerical anchor.

Be that as it may, the round numbers rule. We almost always mark 10th anniversaries with more vigour and joy – or sadness, depending on circumstances – than the ninth or 11th. The 29th wedding anniversary is just another day (unless one partner forgets it altogether and the other doesn't) but the 30th is usually more than enough excuse to invite the whanau round for bubbles and a barbie.

We fixate on anniversaries in part to remember better times, mark significant achievements, remember our dead or as a way to learn from past mistakes. Two years ago Nelson, and in particular its Anglicans, celebrated the 150th anniversary of our town becoming a city. Two years before that it was the 150th anniversary of the founding of Nelson College. This year's 154th celebration will barely rate a mention.

Ten years ago the new millennium was born – well, arguably so: this is not the place to remake the point that as the calender has no year zero, the true start is seen by some as the first second of 2001. Perhaps the most notable event of 2000 (other than George W Bush beating Al Gore for the US presidency) was that nothing happened – well, not the "millennium bug" chaos predicted by many, anyway.

Twenty years ago, 1990 is remembered in history as the final year of the Cold War, 30 years ago Robert Mugabe was elected president of Zimbabwe and 40 years ago the Beatles broke up. Fifty years ago this month, France tested its first atomic bomb in the Sahara and a young compositor, Colin Bartlett, started work at the Nelson Evening Mail, as it was known then and is still often wrongly called.

The pace and scope of change since 1960 has been bewildering. The cellphone and the personal computer have revolutionised home and work life. The world seems smaller, and perhaps the problems confronting it have grown. The idea of "jobs for life" has become so last century, and behaviorists suggest the generations have become ever more self-centred – meaning the sort of loyalty and stickability shown by Mr Bartlett must become increasingly rare.

However you look at it, spending 50 years in one modern-day workplace is remarkable. Imagine the people who have come and gone, the changes in the printing industry and business generally, the attitudes then and now. One point the once young apprentice makes resonates. Systems might – and do – change. Individuals come and go. But it is people – bosses, colleagues, customers, clients – that make or break our working lives. And that is as true today as it was 50 years ago.

- © Fairfax NZ News