As we enter into the last week of the year, it is customary for the media to recap the highlights of the world, our nation, our culture. It has become an annual tradition. This year, some may bring up again the matter of the millennium, whether it is actually ending now rather than last year, as the populace accepted. There will be those who will recount this past year as the first glimpses into what the new millennium will portend. Either way, this end-of-the-year reprise usually is characterized by such a note as this: "Who is like us?"