The Energy Of Emotions -- Y2K Lessons From L.A.

Aside from dealing with recurring floods, raging fires, mudslides and more, the Southern California, and the greater Los Angles area, has visibly been host to two preliminary Y2K lessons this decade -- the L.A. riots and the Northridge Quake.

Emotions are powerful generators of either destructive or creative energy.

Halfway though the L.A. riots I flew back home, to my then So. Cal. Laguna Beach community, into LAX Los Angeless International airport. The sight of thousands not a few, plumes of dark smoke rising from that extended metropolis, will remain etched in my memory. It was a stunning sight. Even so, I had an ariel view of all the places that were NOT burning, as well as those that were. On the ground, driving south along the 405 freeway, I also saw what I had never expected to see. Military troop transports arriving from the San Diego bases. Truck after truck, was loaded with military personnel. What was my emotion? Relief. Help was arriving.

Why did the L.A. riots happen? They were a loaded emotional gun, triggered by the Rodney King trial. A volcano of repressed energy erupted from a populace that just didnt want to take it any more. It was a build-up of ANGER, a slow burn that finally flared. Some people in the L.A. police department are brutal individuals. Some care and try to help their beat. I have friends, who, just because of the color of their skin, have been stopped for a speeding violation, then they were embarrassed, frisked and generally intimidated by highway patrol or police officers. It happens all the time in L.A. I, because I am a woman and white and not a perceived threat, when stopped, would end up joking with officers, and receiving a warning ticket.

There are so many inequities, lack and limitation in certain segments of the L.A. population, that it was, in my opinion, the emotional factor that caused the L.A. riots. ANGER caused the problem, and the solution was a police and military mobilization. Do you see the shadows leading up to potential martial law being declared some Y2K day, within metropolitan emotional tinder boxes?

Contrast those riot events, with what happened in the same and nearby L.A. areas, during the Northridge earthquake. To put it in perspective, it was reported that over 11,000 homes (count that -- eleven thousand homes and businesses) were destroyed in less than a minute. Not to mention all the infrastructure damage to roadways, freeways, water, gas, sewage, electricity and communications. To a non-Californian, whos never participated in the extreme natural violence of a strong earthquake, you have no idea what it feels like to be inside an event of that magnitude. For most people, earthquake survivors, the overwhelming emotion expressed is extreme FEAR.

During that event I was visiting about seven miles from the epicenter to babysit an apartment and business for two weeks. Most people I talked with afterwards, felt helpless, awed, stunned, shocked, small, and very, very AFRAID. FEAR and its derivatives was what managed that greater population. There is absolutely nothing one can do about a sudden massive earthquake, other than to go through it. In the aftermath of that shared emotion, almost no one looted, or rioted or stole or ransacked broken buildings. Why? Because we HAD to come together in community to help one another. Hourly aftershocks that kept your nervous system on edge, and your nights sleepless, were a constant reminder, that but for the grace of God and greater natural forces... Neighbors helped one another, dug crying people out of rubble, gathered in the parks to campout under the stars, treated wounds, shared food and water, and worked within their local community agencies and with each other to restore order and fix all the broken parts. In the San Fernando valley, the water supply, in many places, was either broken or tarnished.

I will always be grateful to the distant bottled water company, Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, who mobilized their remote workforce, encouraging brutal overtime hours, to fill water bottles and drive trucks down into the affected areas. (Later, Ill share my inside the earthquake experience, but for now, I recall the three-story apartment building complex I was supposed to remain at, did not have either water or electricity for one week afterwards). At the small business I was temporarily managing, the sight of those water trucks was an uplifting experience. The driver told me they were supplying all their customers and anyone else who wanted it, with as many large water bottles as they desired. All at their standard, non price gouging, rate. Most people overstocked, big time.

So what is the potential Y2K lesson these two events illustrate?

The Emotional Factor will rule how people in various areas of the country react to Y2K. I submit that an in-advance, prepared populace is less likely to riot or burn their homes, and far more likely to come together and help one another. For the metropolitan areas of lack and limitation, it is far better to mobilize food and water distribution services, than to just prepare for martial law.

The Y2K choice remains in the hands and minds of all of us. The newsmedia can make the real difference in the path we all take.

Diane

* * ' * * ' * * ' * * ' * * ' * * ' * * '

What would be a good Emotional Response scale to add to our Y2K impact scenarios a la TEOTWAWKI, the Estabrook and Edwards scales, and on down through the various numerical ranges discussed in earlier threads. Thoughts anyone?

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 15, 1998

Answers

Diane, can you give us some information on the "mobility" of the public in the two situations? That is, did people move around a lot or did they tend to stay in their own neighborhoods?

-- Ken D. (bobo@nogo.com), November 15, 1998.

My experience of the disturbances Diane described is that they were in contained areas. I was glued to my television as I sat very safe (as safe as one is anywhere) in my Orange County home about 30 miles away.

The Northridge Quake shook the entire LA-Orange County metro area, with the majority of damage within a zone around the epicenter. There are still places in that area that have not been rebuilt, a lot of insurance company shenanigans...

Back to the riots...They were "the continuation of the interrupted stuff" that went on during the Watts riots. The residents of S. Central along with Watts had been promised way back when renewal, money and business,...of course empty promises from corporations and politicians...

I think it's important to be careful in making comparisons like this. I see some application. The physical devastation was localized, and help came from without. In Y2K there will be no without that does not need to assist its own. Military/nat'l guard will I think be of limited value....spread too thin...

I sure agree with Diane on preparedness averting panic. We are in good company...University study (Delaware or Massachusetts) says the saem...I think this study was listed at North's site...and at Westergaard.

Prepared people don't panic. They made feel fear, but they don't panic.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), November 15, 1998.

Ken,

I would tend to say they moved around within a 10 to 20 mile radius, and at most an hour's drive away, usually to stay with friends or family. There was an extreme need to be in a group and not all alone. In the quake I moved in with relatives in a one story home, rather than stay in a broken three story apartment building over a car garage. Lots of cracks and damage there. In the mountain fire experience, again I wanted to gather with friends and still be near home. So did most everyone I knew or talked to.

Whatever we can do to mitigate the emotion of panic will be a positive step.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 15, 1998.

In addition Ken,

The Northridge quake hit at 4:30 a.m. It was dark outside. I was in a seventeen building, three-story each, over-a-car-garage, complex. The mass of people gathering outside these buildings was on the order of hundreds. (One lady died in the buildings hallway next door -- heart attack -- people stayed with her inside and held her hand till she passed on). No one panicked, as in going crazy. Scared sh*tless, yes. Since there was no electricity, not even the cell phones worked, the buildings were clearly unsafe, so people wanted to be outside. The stars over L.A. where the most brilliant Id ever seen them. No light interfered with our ability to be awed by the expansiveness of nature. We clustered in groups awaiting the dawn. Everyone had encouraging words or a blanket to share, as we waited, out in the open, through aftershock upon aftershock.

My ever changing group gathered around one portable radio altar. Someone had placed candles next to it, so it drew quite a crowd. We hung on every word the stunned reporters had to say. I will always remember a wandering young 20-year-old who tensely cried I dont know what to do! I told him to be calm and that we were camping now. He locked eyes with me and said I dont know how to camp!!! I explained that when light came, he would need to gather certain items from his apartment. He drank in every word. I asked him to start thinking about what kinds of things he would need. Once his mind was engaged, he calmed, and he started figuring out what he needed to DO for himself.

Later, that morning about 9:30 a.m., when a policeman came by to see about the dead woman, I asked him what freeways were still operational. He said the only one open, from that location in Woodland Hills, was 101 going north along the coast to Santa Barbara. Since I needed to check on the business I was babysitting about 10 miles away, I drove north, with all my suitcases. The company was fine, computers still on their desks. But no phone, no electricity. Hence no gas could be pumped, nor did the ATM machines work. I had enough gas in the tank to make it to a town, Montecito, just below Santa Barbara, about an hours drive away. I felt compelled to find a working phone to let the business and trashed apartment owner know the status of things.

Desperately in need of a cafe latte, I stopped by Montecitos local Starbucks. I was stunned. A Closed sign was on the door. They had no water and no electricity. There was absolutely no earthquake damage, but the grid went down. A picture formed in my mind of a certain gas station. I went there, and they were pumping gas! It turned out they were one of just a few gas stations in the greater Santa Barbara area that not only had a generator, but could pump gas. I filled the tank, and asked were the nearest power was. They said Solvang. Another hours drive away. I continued to drive north and entered the Danish tourist town. They had electricity, but no working phones. People shopping in their shorts had barely even heard of the quake. Surreal. I cleaned out my money from the operational ATM, then continued driving north stopping at every town trying to find a working phone. I did not find one until I reached San Luis Obispo, about a three hour drive from L.A. Thats how far the downed grids extended. The next morning, I stocked up on water, batteries and food, drove back in to the devastation and continual aftershocks, to stay with relatives in North Hollywood. Most people in L.A. had stayed put.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 15, 1998.

I don't see much in the way of "lessons" from a localized disaster. Assuming the worst, Y2K will be charachterized by silence. You mention the "radio alter". You knew outside help was on the way. You knew you could drive outside the affected disaster zone. The physical power of the earthquake stunned people (ala the 20 yo). Its unlikely Y2K will play out like a physical disaster. First, there will be the continuing nature of the emergency. It will go on and on and on WITHOUT outside help. And worst of all, no coffee lata. First, people will be incredulous and then angry. Diane, I suggest YOU might be blamed. YOU let this happen. YOU are one of THEM who caused this thing. Someone has to be at fault. Why not the new age lady who predicted this - this thing. She's a WITCH, burn her, burn her!!!!

-- R. D..Herring (drherr@erols.com), November 15, 1998.

Diane,

I too lived through many earthquakes and the two riots in L.A. I finally moved out of Southern California in 1995 after living there 40 years. I fail to see the correlation between those occurances and Y2K.

First of all, Y2K is not a natural disaster, nor is it a problem manifested by a single isolated event. This is a problem caused by government and big business that will affect everyone.

People are already angry at their government, case in point, the Oklahoma City bombing. This was not the result of some outside terrorist group. It was Americans. Not everyone will be "relieved" to see martial law. Many will see it as an offensive move aimed at removing our civil rights.

How many people have been downsized, rightsized and plain old laid off from good paying jobs over the last 10 years so their jobs could be done cheaper overseas or automated by computers? If you think they are not going to be good and mad when they find out, you had better think again.

The effects of the problems that will arise because of Y2K will not be resolved in a few weeks. Each community will be dealing with its own crisis. There will be no help coming from anywhere.

As time goes by, problems will compound at a exponential rate. How long do you think it will take people to get frustrated? I give them a week at best. Americans want instant gratification, "Not later, I want it now!"

There is already civil unrest hidden just beneath the surface of this society. Y2K will bring it out into the light. It would be nice to think that everyone is going to pull together but I just don't see it happening.

-- Anna McKay Ginn (annaginn@aol.com), November 15, 1998.

Diane, thanks for the reply. Now for some more questions. How soon after the earthquake did people return to their jobs and businesses? Was the population completely preoccupied with the quake's aftermath, or did they attempt to return to the normal pre-quake way of life ASAP? You told how you drove for hours looking for gas, a phone, and an ATM. Can you extrapolate for us how you would have reacted if none of these were available to you?

I realize that disaster experiences are limited in time and space, but by examining human responses to such events we should be able to gain some insights into the consequences of Y2K.

Also, does anyone have the URL of the paper mentioned by Donna B.?

-- Ken D. (bobo@nogo.com), November 15, 1998.

I have never lived in So. Cal., so I just watched it on TV. My friend who did said during the riots he made two observations.

1. Stores where the owners stood watch with guns, didn't get looted.

2. When the looting threatend to spread to Beverly Hills, a 5 mile long column of US Military troops were sent to LA from Camp Pendelton. (He sat in traffic watching this 5 mile long parade.)

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), November 15, 1998.

Bill@MS.com

Your point is noted and confirms my own feelings in regards to such things.

I won't be robbed by the first few gangs, if indeed there should be such events.

It IS a whole "nuther thing" when the rabbit carries a gun too.

S.O.B.

-- sweetolebob (La) (buffgun@hotmail.com), November 15, 1998.

I'm in full agreement with those people who said that y2k would be happening EVERYWHERE, therefore there would be a lot less help for any given area. Also, that help might come from the military, who would be carrying guns and thus be construed by a lot of people as a threat ("they're coming to impose the NWO! Now's when we use the 2nd Amendment to defend ourselves against government oppression- fire first!")

People in LA were aware that help WOULD be on the way, that therefore they could afford to wait and not panic. When TSHTF in 2000, people will know that it is EVERYWHERE and they will realise that help will be a long time coming, if it ever does. Joe Schmoe will therefore think: "Better get myself a supply of food, as much as I can, because it might be ages before more will come!".

--Leo

-- Leo (leo_champion@hotmail.com), November 15, 1998.

Hi Diane,

As a native Southern Californian I've grown accustomed to the shifting of the earth. Actually, I enjoy them : ) They're a great way to refocus life's priorities if only for a short time.

Northridge was very, very different. It was the only quake I have ever been through where I felt I could die. Keep this in mind, when you evaluate my response to this event, I am near the port of San Pedro nearly 40 miles away. I was much closer to the Riots and it was the first and only time I have ever gone to work with a loaded weapon in my vehicle. I had no choice in going to work as my employer insisted I do so. So, in either case I feared for my life and the lives of my loved ones.

I was scared after the Northridge earthquake but it didn't stop me from exiting my home under protest from my family and walking around my neighborhood to make sure all the houses were still standing and there was no neighbor in need of assistance.

I don't know if there can be an emotional response scale because every individual reacts differently to any given set of circumstances. I do think however that the reaction to y2k disruptions will be extreme because without the proper warnings most will be unprepared and the situations that result could have been avoided.

Mike ======================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), November 16, 1998.

This from Harlan Ellison (writer)who lives in LA and had a close encounter with death during the Northridge quake:

"(L.A. is okay. I like it here. But I'm no dope. Long before the thruster, I had hired both seismic engineers and structural experts, as well as soil analysts, to tell me how safe I was here on the crest of the North Benedict Canyon slope. Core drilling had been done, and I was heartened to learn that the house sat solidly, a mere five feet above bedrock. Of even more salutary note was the advisement that not only was the house secure just five feet above bedrock, but the seam ran north-south, in line with the house. Meaning: not even the worst of the "rolling" temblors we knew so well in Southern California could trouble me overmuch. If the rolling came, it would not affect the solid cut under me. I was sanguine. And when the Landers quake hit a few years ago, I barely felt it, despite all the serious damage done in other nerby areas. I was sanguine. "The only way you're going to be in any trouble," said an engineer from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena--a reader of my work who had offered to bring in some ground-testing equipment as a favor--"any trouble at all, is if the whole damned mountain collapses." I was sanguine.)

The fault line came diagonally across the Valley, got to the base of the mountains, had nowhere to go...so it went up.

The house was lifted with a 4g thrust. It takes only 6 gravs to throw a rocket to the moon...."

There was great differences in response from residents between the Northridge quake and the civil unrest after the Rodney King trial....

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), November 16, 1998.

Remember we are also extrapolating Y2K lessons currently from Hurricane Mitch. I think there is Y2K relevance to the L. A. riot and earthquake lessons. Its all about how people behave in crisis situations.

Yes these were isolated events. Yes, we knew help would come from outside. I suspect the same will happen with Y2K. Why? Because I do not see all the electrical grids going down. Brownouts, yes. Countrywide blackout, no. I suspect sometime within the first 6 months of next year, that the Utility companies will be in full contingency planning doo-doo activities, whipped into it by their public and their government and mostly by large private industry. (Rightly or wrongly, they may perceive that they have the most to loose). I also suspect well see a great deal of cutting the ties that bind so to speak, and a move towards grid independence. I also suspect that the government and military, are making plans based upon their experience of these isolated L.A. incidents. And I know they read the posts on this forum!

Y2K will not twist the steel and crack the roads. That is a big difference. When some talk about WTSHTF you are assuming that the populace will not be prepared for disruptions. The point for many of us is, in order to avoid the worst case TEOTWAWKI scenario, we MUST ALL GET PREPARED. Period. As Donna said Prepared people don't panic. They made feel fear, but they don't panic. It is up to US and thousands like us to spur the media and our government (gov. may be a lost cause for the moment, not in the long-run) to get the population aware of the repercussions and get ready. Will it be easy? No. Should that stop us from trying? No. The consequences for our civilization are too important. Do I think our world will be as it was after Y2K? No. Do I think it should be? No. Weve made a mess of it, now its time to clean-up and focus on what works.

Ken, to return to your questions: How soon after the earthquake did people return to their jobs and businesses?

It was all individual, and depended on where you lived, if the roadways allowed travel detours, and if the buildings were still standing. Many were condemned. Lots of snarled traffic. But people worked with it or around it because that was the only choice. The quake luckily happened on a holiday Monday, Martin Luther Kings Birthday. I returned to work on Wednesday. By then the power was on in that area, and the phones operational. Aftershocks were a constant reminder of how tenuous everything was. I know of people whose business was completely trashed. Some went out of business, some had to rebuild, others moved out of the area. That first week was the messiest as we all dug out, and it was the only thing on peoples minds. Many places didnt get water and power restored for a week or longer because the transmission lines and pipes were broken. Luckily, they could go to nearby neighbors and friends to take showers and get the water bottles filled. Many people lived in the parks because they were too frightened to be inside. Others helped them. I did notice that ones car had a good chance of becoming ones only home. (Its partly why I focus so heavily on the idea of camping in a crisis situation).

Was the population completely preoccupied with the quake's aftermath, or did they attempt to return to the normal pre-quake way of life ASAP?

Both. Nothing else mattered but the quake, and people wanted to restore as much normalcy as possible. Neighborhoods became sources of communication and comfort. I met more people I never thought to have any relationship with because we all shared a common and on-going experience. Neighbors whod never spoken to one another, went around and helped pick up the broken parts. The quake was a shared equalizer.

You told how you drove for hours looking for gas, a phone, and an ATM. Can you extrapolate for us how you would have reacted if none of these were available to you?

My original plan was to wait in the unbroken Santa Barbara area, in my car, and by a beach, because thats as far as my gas tank got me. I planned to wait until things came back on, then return to help my relatives in the war zone. Did I want to go back in? No way. Did I force myself? Yes. Also because I was outside the event briefly on Monday night, I got to watch the TV horror focus. People inside the worst of it, still had no electricity, so the battery powered radio was the only source of current information. When I went back in, Tuesday morning, I became a news source for the neighbors about what I had seen on TV. I had also had about $20.00 in cash with me. I had never felt so monetarily helpless before. I extrapolate, that if the ATMs had not worked, and if I was far from friends or neighbors, I would camp, because I know how to, and its easy for me. Id also probably volunteer at some food distribution location to help stricken people and get a meal now and then, and make new friends.

One of the other results of that experience, is that I always carry extra water in the car, an earthquake preparedness kit, blankets and things that would make it easier to suddenly be camping.

Mike, Hi too. Your comment:

Northridge was very, very different. It was the only quake I have ever been through where I felt I could die. Yep, as a native, I used to love quakes. I dont now. I had one of the more unusual experiences for the first two days (maybe Ill share). It was actually in a large aftershock on Wednesday that I fell into the most profound FEAR I HAD EVER FELT in my life. Thought I was going to die from it, and I really had to face my mortality. What helped? I collapsed on the outdoor ground and kept breathing huge gasping gulps until I got through the fear. Then the following Saturday, I visited friends in the mountains and hiked until that tension left my body. After that, it didnt get to me again.

And: ...every individual reacts differently to any given set of circumstances. I do think however that the reaction to y2k disruptions will be extreme because without the proper warnings most will be unprepared and the situations that result could have been avoided.

Mike, your words say it all: WITHOUT THE PROPER WARNINGS MOST WILL BE UNPREPARED AND THE SITUATIONS THAT RESULT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED!!!

Please newsmedia, government and military -- get this one!!!!

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 16, 1998.

With some private e-mail encouragement, I think its time to finish my Northridge earthquake story -- for the record. Please recognize, this was my individual experience of that 1994 event. And it just adds another story, to a long string of other personal experience that has convinced me that theres more happening in our world, than what one can see, hear and touch. Just the facts...

I had been up in Northern California, then agreed to watch over a friends business and apartment while he was away at a tradeshow. I arrived Sunday night at midnight, didnt really unpack and yawningly went to bed. Im a very light sleeper. At about 4:30 a.m., I heard the sound of an explosion, sat up and was suddenly and literally catapulted across the room. Clearly it was a violent earthquake and I crawled to the bedrooms doorway alcove. The slam shaking felt like it was moving three feet in one direction then three feet back with accompanying crunches and klunks. The enormous din of breaking dishes, cracking buildings, falling furniture, flying belongings and car alarms screaming wildly, was a 3-D surround sound experience. I remember thinking I hope Im over a beam and can ride the building down as it collapses, then crawl out. Time stood still, while the wild ride continued.

I mentally asked a question What do I do? Then an echo-ey voice, definately outside of me answered Swirl white light. Familiar with metaphysics by now, I knew exactly what to do. Oh, right, right. In my minds eye I imagined huge spirals of white light energy coming down from the sky and counter vortexing into the shaking earth. It felt like I was totally protected in a bubble of energy, like sitting in the eye of a hurricane. My mind was shocked into total clarity. There were NO extraneous thoughts. Next I asked What do I do now? And the sourceless voice responded Calm the earth. Oh, yeah, right, okay! Touching the buckeling floor I imagined calming energy penetrating the ground and smoothing the agitated earth. Again I asked What now? The calm voice said Call in the Angels. Oh, sheesh, right, right!! Again I mentally shouted Every Angel in the Universe we need you here NOW!!! This crystalline question and answer process lasted the duration of the initial quake, about 20 seconds. It seemed like a minute, or longer.

The shaking had stopped. By then I knew enough to ask What do I do now? The outer voice said Find light. Still feeling like I was in slow motion, I recalled I had a votive candle and matches next to the bed. Crawling over broken debris, in pitch black, while sniffing for smells of gas leaks, I grouped with my hands trying to find that candle. No luck. I then remembered in my mostly packed luggage in the living room, I had another candle. Reversing on hands and knees, I made my way partially into that room, gingerly moving, hands on tangible chaos, my only physical guide. Suddenly, I grasped a long cylindrical object. A flashlight!! Gratefully flicking it on, I responded I found the light! A part of me chuckled.

More aftershocks, reality just seemed blurred. I recall walking to the front door, opening it and hearing people shouting Is everyone okay? Yes, fine here. There was an ever widening ripple of strained voices. (I must mention that I was on the third and top floor of a three-story apartment complex over a car garage. There were 17 such buildings in the entire Woodland Hills rental complex). Again I asked my guiding voice What should I do now? It replied Get dressed. Humm, good idea, so I did. I was also feeling pretty compelled to get outside, a.s.a.p. I finished dressing in record time, probably less than a minute, and while clutching my found flashlight, again, I requested What now? The voice said, Gather, your luggage. I did. The next instruction was Go outside. (This guide was clearly not a talker). So, dragging my wheeled luggage cart piled with my stuff (laughable , I know), I began the trek down the exitway stairs. Halfway down another aftershock. Those stairs wobbled like jello. Talk about feeling ones self on shakey plaster ground! Ready to drop everything and bolt, I asked Are you sure Ill be okay here? The soothing and still external voice responded Youre fine. So, not quibbling, I calmly proceeded down this man- made kids desert (so-called stairs) to the outside. Boy, was I ever glad to see black open sky and twinkling stars!

More and more people, and flashlights, were finding open ground. I puddled my stuff in the parking lot and asked about my car still underneath the cracked building, Should I get my car? The voice said Yes, go now. So I did. Nervous, yes. But I wasnt about to argue. I parked my car away from potentially falling buildings, tossed my luggage inside, and went to join a candle-lit radio altar crowd. That was the last I directly heard from the voice.

[See an above post to fill in the time gap]

When dawn broke, we were all feeling pretty much put through the shake and bake ringer. It seemed somewhat calmer. Theres also something so normal about daylight. One of the group who lived on the third floor, asked if Id go with her. She didnt want to go inside alone. With alacrity, I agreed. (Me neither). We stopped by her place first, noticing the extremely crackled outer walls. It was completely trashed. Like someone had taken a cosmic spoon and whipped the room in a frenzy. Her refrigerator was knocked partway over, a mass of tangled food and glass shards on the ground. Stepping over piles, we inspected each room. At her bedroom door our jaws dropped. The extremely heavy 6-foot high, inlaid mirror, bedstand/bookcase behind her bed had toppled over. Shattered glass and this wooden unit lay on the bedspread. We both had no idea how she wasnt squashed under that thing! We knew, absolutely, she could have been killed under it.

Rattled, she accompanied me over to my friends place. Total turmoil. It was interesting to note that furniture on one wall would be knocked to the ground, while pieces on a perpendicular wall were still standing. (Something to do with the quakes energetic lines of force emitted). In the bedroom, another jaw dropper. At the place where I landed when tossed across the room, was about a hundred pound, precariously perched heavy antique dresser mirror, tossed end-over- end. I had no idea how it missed konking me. Go figure.

[The finish to the story has already been told above. During the rest of that day, and the next, in driving away, I just followed the synchronicities as they appeared, completely in the moment. I wasnt about to not trust that Id be watched over, or that something hadnt watched over all of us].

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 17, 1998.

What emotional energy is associated with being prepared?

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 21, 1998.

What emotional energy is required for preparation?

A lot... consider each thread where many people (over just a three month period) "burned out"/"stressed out" by not being "sure" of just what was happening, and whether their preparations were

(1) justified at all in the face of overwhelming public apathy and "semi-official" government denial.

(2) if they were justified, "did I think of everything?"

(3) if they were justified, "did I get enough, warn enough people, do enough to be ready?"

What emotional energy is required for preparation?

More than for earthquake/hurricane preparation. There the user is preparing against an overwhelming natural disaster, where people band together in shared misery caused by an omnipitentant (-1 sp) natural force. In Y2K, if services adn tax/welfare money are down for a significant time, people will be faced with personal discomfort caused by the incompetance of bureacrats, programmers, and business owners (the governemnt won't be blamed in the press for lying).

Plus the societal failures caused by Y2K (okay - revealed by Y2K removing the cover of law and order from the current repressed society) is the threat. If the were no perceived threat from vandals, theives, bullies, rapists after year 2000, then there would be much less sense of a need for secretive hoarding or protectiveness of personal resources.

So that means the LA riots, the Miami riots are more akin to what people fear. The earthquake is a common foe, impartial to what is destroys. The Y2K "riots" (if they occur) will destroy what certain people have been trained to hate.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), November 21, 1998.

What emotional energy is required for preparation? More than for earthquake/hurricane preparation. There the user is preparing against an overwhelming natural disaster, where people band together in shared misery caused by an omnipitentant (-1 sp) natural force. -- Robert

Robert, I agree, the potential and unknown Y2K repercussions are an order of magnitude different than preparing for earthquakes and hurricanes. And yet similar. The emotional tone rages that individuals will experience is likely to be all over the map too, depending upon their own personal circumstances and duration. In a sense we are faced with preparing against an overwhelming UNNATURAL disaster. Luckily, we know when it will hit, and when the preliminary problems are likely to hit next year. Advantage -- US. People need to band together in shared CHALLENGE, in order to face the unexpected and unknown -- both with our physical world and our emotional world. And guess what, I AM starting to see an occasional shift in the media now, and I expect to see more as we progress. (Ill post a S.F. Examiner article 11/22/98 Computer bug may hit where it hurts by Erin McCormick).

In Y2K, if services adn tax/welfare money are down for a significant time, people will be faced with personal discomfort caused by the incompetance of bureacrats, programmers, and business owners (the governemnt won't be blamed in the press for lying). -- Robert

IF services and tax/welfare ARE down for a significant time, yes, many people will be faced with personal discomfort. Thats why we need to contingency plan AS IF those services ARE going to be down for a significant time. I suspect the burden/opportunity for those contingency plans rests, by default, at the LOCAL level, and marginally at the STATE level. As you pointed out in an earlier thread, all TEOTWAWKI is local. It will require a concerted effort, locally, to band together all elements of a community --residents, small business, corporations, and government. Will it be easy? Not likely. Is it necessary? Looks that way. Is it better than letting our world slide into Apocalypse and anarchy? No contest. Think Globally, Act Locally.

Also, I sure can WELL imagine the press going wild pointing the finger at the government. Cant you? Lawyers too. If the Legal repercussions threat doesnt galvanize our government, it should! That should scare them more than the risks associated with calmly preparing a population.

The Y2K "riots" (if they occur) will destroy what certain people have been trained to hate. -- Robert

So diffuse, or side-track that energy of hate and anger, now, by getting ready for EVERYONE to make it through Y2K, and not just isolated pockets. The military could do a great deal to mobilize the food and water supplies now, and openly talk about it, into areas closely available to the inner cities and other areas they deem potential tinder-boxes. They then need to call for volunteer task forces from those very communities to assist in preparing plans for fair distribution. If the military, et. al., begins to create an atmosphere of cooperation NOW, there will be less likelihood for distrust later. Our government and military needs to pay attention to the lessons being taught by the Canadian military, SOON.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 23, 1998.

Thank you, ma'am. Well put.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), November 23, 1998.