most important event this year.... peace talks in Ireland -- if they can stop fighting in Ireland then there is hope for the people in the Balkans, the Middle East, etc.
last 10 years... internet shopping!
last 100 years... space travel
last 1000 years... printing press

Laura, 34
Lowell, MA

Last year: The bombing in Columbine. I think it really shook ideas of violence in America. Person, that's a tough one. For me? For America? For the world? Funny, it's a bit hard to keep the events, people and ideas of one year straight. Time seems too fluid to stay within the markers of one year.
10 yrs: The fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall. The internet.
100 years and 1000 years seem too abstract to me to consider the importance of one particular anything. Things, especially with the perspective of time, seem to be too interrelated to separate.

Liz
Medford, MA

mothmc, 35
Pensacola, FL

DNA has been a big play in solving many unsolved mysteries. It sure helps to put the bad guy/gal away so they will not harm anyone else. Mother Theresa I believe played a big role during her life. She showed people how to care for each other and that you can live on your faith and that you do not need that much money

Colleen, 29
Virginia Beach, VA

Probably not a whole lot about me personally. Ideally, I'd like to be remembered as having lived my life such that it reflected God's gifts to me.

Laura, 34
Lowell, MA

Last Year: Buying a new car
Last 10 years: the falling of the Berlin Wall
Last 100 years: Electricity and the campaign for Women's rights
Last 1000 years: The printing press

Felicia, 33
Somerville, MA

For me personally or for the world at large. I would have to say that the most important thing in the last year has been the internet, in the last 10 years its been the computer, last 100 years has been communication ie radio and television, and the last 1000 years has been travel. I chose these things because it facilitate learning. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is the great equalizer, the more you know the more control you have and you can make better choices.

The internet has allowed us to share what we know with the world. A great example is medical knowledge. Doctors have been complaining about patients that have surfed the internet and come into the doctors office informed and full and questions. Doctors aren't used to being questioned, they are used to being in control. Patients have taken the power back from the doctors. That can happen for other groups as well, the poor and disenfranchised can gain access to computers in libraries and public access centers and through personal effort they gain knowledge of computers which as I have found out from personal experience is a very marketable commodity.

Cindy
Lowell, MA

Tom

The most important events:
The last ten years- The internet, which brought the world closer, but also made us more vulnerable, as seen with computer viruses.
100 years- The car, for better or for worse, made it easier to get around, even if it causes pollution problems.
1000 years- I suppose the wheel, which is used for

Gavin, 15
Sydney AUSTRAILA

This is really a tough question, considering all that has gone on. In  the last year, I'd say the most important thing is the destruction of the Holy Land by war, but that's not exactly a new development. Perhaps the fact that the "idiot savant" has taken the top office in the  United States? In the last ten, the Internet. The last 100 years have seen two world wars and much industrial development, and I'd say  those are pretty important happenings. In the last thousand years, so much has happened that I don't dare try to single out one of them. Probably the rise of Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church, or maybe just organized religion in general.

Kristin, 20
IA  USA