I have a wife and two grown sons. For the past year they have politely listened to my ravings on y2k and I thought they were quietly planning to have me certified and committed. It came to be kind of a joke in the family. All of a sudden, one boy says he does not want to go back to school, and the other says he will go AWOL from the military upon being ordered to mobilize for any domestic action. What the hell do I do now? The ball has been placed squarely in my court. Do I have the strength of my convictions? Do I allow them to ruin there lives? Do I encourage them? I found myself telling them to "wait and see" That mobilization might only mean directing traffic, or controlling looters for a while. That school might only close for one semester. It is a lot easier to plan for yourself and your dependents than it is for other people. Moses led his people from bondage, not from good paying jobs and bright futures. His decision was a snap! Not only that, but his boss gave him a direct order.

-- Bill Solorzano (notaclue@webtv.net), May 22, 1998

Answers

Go to www.zdnet.com/pcmag/insites/seymore/js980210.htm Let it ride. In a six to nine months, everyone will be looking at the future in a very different way. In six to nine years, everyone will look at the past as "before Y2K" and "after Y2K."

-- zerad (zerad@my-dejanews.com), May 22, 1998.

I posted the wrong address just change the "seymore" to "seymour." Sorry.

-- zerad (zerad@my-dejanews.com), May 23, 1998.

Bill, I fully appreciate your plight. I called my son last night and ask him if he was aware of y2k. He is in a management position with a very large retail business with stores in many states. He was not aware of any problem at all. I ask him if there was any discussion in any of the many Corp., district and/or local management meetings that he has attended (he has gone to many many many). His answer was NO. It has never been even mentioned. He now has to face the same situation that your boys are having to face. If he quits his job, the penalties are staggering in terms of money. If he waits too long then he risks a very substantial investment. He has a lot of trouble trying to understand why he has not been told anything about this within his company. He can't believe that there has not been any real news within the Networks or from the Govt. How does one grasp the idea of 3rd world situation in the USA. Most of them have never been there and have always relied on the Govt or big business to guide them to bigger and better things. Get a good education, work hard and stay loyal to the CO. and/or Govt has always been the WORD..

I can not express my concern for yours, mine and others as they face this thing.. My job as a father has been, still is and will always be to protect my children at all cost. If I should advise him wrong I have not protected but destroyed a young man and his family.

I have give the best advice I can give him and others.. Find out for yourself and act accordingly.

Is there anything else one can really do?? Joe

-- Joseph Baggs (joefrank@usa.com), May 27, 1998.

Joe:

You sound like a good dad. I said much the same thing to myself some time ago as you did in your post. The thoughts did little to console me. If you or I saw a truck bearing down on our children, and they did not hear or listen to your warning, wouldn't you risk yourself to get him out of the way? Small comfort after he is hit to mutter to yourself, "I told him to look out." How far do we as fathers extend outselves to get our kids out of harms way? Looking foolish is a small price to pay, but possibly hurting their careers and lives over something that may not be as deadly is something else. This is a lousy post. All I did was restate my question and congratulate you and me for being good dads.

-- Bill Solorzano (notaclue@webtv.net), May 27, 1998.

Bill, Thanks much for your post, it was not a lousy post, it is just the situation is lousy. It is a great comfort to me to know there are others out there that have a heart..

I have read many of your other posts on different sites and find you are very much concerned with with subject and are willing to freely give your feelings, good, bad or ugly. It is because of you and many others that have caused me to get involved with y2k. I have found that few will listen and fewer yet that even ask what the $%^# is y2k anyway.

I for one will just keep talking, posting and informing. I can lead the horse to water but I can't make him drink.

God speed and keep up the great posts, as I am sure going to read them

Joe

-- Joseph Baggs (joefrank@usa.com), May 28, 1998.

Bill, I am trying to get a small web page going, would you mind looking at members.tripod.com/~JoeSat/index.html, and see if I am going in the right direction. Thanks much. Joe

-- Joseph Baggs (joefrank@usa.com), May 28, 1998.

Joe:

I couldn't get into your page or e-mail address. Why don't you e-mail your page to me?

-- Bill Solorzano (notaclue@webtv.net), May 28, 1998.