Best thing in the past ten years

From CityBeat, 2006:

Steve Carter-Novotni:
Writer, editor, new media specialist, CityBeat contributor
What's the best thing to happen to Cincinnati in the past 10 years?
The 2001 riots. I know that sounds weird, because obviously Tim Thomas' death was a tragedy and the violence and mayhem in the streets by both protesters and cops was a terrible thing; It's just that this flash of lightning through the streets of Over-the-Rhine woke up so many complacent people to some hard facts about our city. The riots were like an earthquake proving the existence of a geologic fault at Cincinnati's core. This racial and economic stratification that keeps the poor, black and white, under the heel of a corporate empire has got to go, and the people know it. For that reason, the shots fired by Officer Stephen Roach were ones heard 'round the world. And there's not enough Ivory Soap anywhere to clean up that mess.

What's the best thing to happen to you in the past 10 years?
Finding out that my wife and I are going to have a baby. After freaking out for about a month and tripping on the existential dilemmas presented by this revelation, it began to bring my life into clear focus. Acting purposefully and deliberately are more important now. Patience, kindness and gratitude are virtues I'm trying very hard to pursue, because I have to develop these in myself if I'm ever to ask these things of this new life.