2y2k or not 2y2k? Is that the question?

I have studied this situation intensely for about a year now. I have attempted to prove it is TEOTWAWKI, I have attempted to prove it is not. For a while, I would read an article and think, "That's it! This person knows and is telling it like it is." I would make copies and forward emails to that effect, then read an opposing article by an equally qualified person. For a while, my attitude was, "If the government is warning us about y2k, then the statement is gospel" and "If the government is saying everything is ok, it is a lie". On our forums we collect and share evidence obsessively. I have rejoiced when someone got it, but lately, I have come to view someone "getting it" as more of an infection than a conversion to the truth, because the truth , as even the experts agree is, NO ONE KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN.

Have I been looking through the wrong microscope? Maybe the question is, am I dependent on something I cannot control? And of course the answer is yes, the sun, the moon, rain, the wind. Mankind has lived at the mercy of the mercurial elements always and the result has been plenty, starvation, comfort and misery, all to the degree we were able to and took their vagaries into consideration. We argue if the hurricane will hit our village and those who think it will, evacuate or take some kind of precautions and those who think it won't, won't and one of us gets to be right. But no one KNOWS.

I have been told that in Switzerland, every thing that is not forbidden is obligatory. In the U.S. we can be wrong if we want to "and now we are engaged in a great civil war to determine whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure" (sorry, I just had to throw that in) The question is no longer, will there be major disruptions because no one can answer that, the question is, what are you going to do. What unknown have you decided to prepare for?

I'm through reading Gary North, Ed Yourdon, etc. I have made up my mind to irrationally prepare for major disruptions and if they don't happen I may decide to live as though they did. This is my life and I will prepare if I want to. ( I didn't really mean that about not reading GN and EY)

This has been fun.

Msglory

-- Roberta Blackard (roblackard@juno.com), January 10, 1999

Answers

I know exactly what you mean.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), January 10, 1999.

I understand your frustration. You can drive yourself nuts if you think about it too much. Everything that I have purchased I will use with or without Y2K, so what have I lost? Nothing is going to "go to waste." Even if Y2K is just a "bump in the road", our technology has really helped to keep prices down. Without everything working as it is now, I really believe prices will go up. Guess what? That means I saved a lot of money by purchasing things on sale now.

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), January 10, 1999.

Well, Y2K aside, one thing we do know, and can extrapolate, for 1999 and 2000, is the natural disasters ARE getting worse. Preparing for those unknowns is just prudent too. -- Diane

See the PBS transcript ... YEAR OF DISASTERS -- Phil Ponce recalls a year of devastating weather with Janet Abramovitz, senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, Bob Watson, director of the Environment Department at the World Bank; and John Clizbe, vice president of disaster services at the American Red Cross. ...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/july-dec98/weather_12- 29.html

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 10, 1999.

We partially solved that by deciding to do nothing that we already wouldn't have wanted to do with our lives-hence, no regrets if there isn't a serious effect in a year. However, there is some stress in preparing as if there might not be an opportunity in a year. However, i always have to think ' are we all really nuts?" I don't think so, but also think it stupid not to at least consider the opposite view point. I wouldn't listen seriously to someone with prophecies of the millennial end is near type- be they nostradamus, hopi, RC Hoagland, etc. I don't believe i have succumbed to the millennial madness thang, and only 2 things make me believe that something strange may be occurring soon- 1) y2k does appear to be a real phenomenon with unknown but possibly severe repercutions worldwide, and 2) i look at the world around me, and i can't help but see that it cannot continue the way it is heading for too much longer. So, the lesson for me, is, prepare in a way that you won't regret whatever the outcome is, and prepare for what you know in your heart is the most possible outcome.

-- Damian Solorzano (oggy1@webtv.net), January 11, 1999.

Take a look at the y2k matrix post.

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), January 11, 1999.

"2Y2k or not 2y2k" depends on how sick of the controversies and obsessions one is. Some days I'm sick of it, I feel I'm obsessing too much and should enjoy myself more while I still can. Or spend those 2-3 hours I do reading y2k internet stuff on stockpiling and making sure I've covered everything to the point I want or can cover. So I take a day off, or a week off. But I find myself coming back to my keyboard after that, with renewed obsession.

I've thought a lot about this obsession. Why am I still obsessing, when I know for sure that I must prepare? Why can't I just let go of the internet and prepare as best I can while still enjoying my "normal" life? I obsess about 2 things. This forum, and keeping up with my bookmarked sources for new developments.

The answer I came up with is 1. the forum fills a deep need I have to discuss y2k with intelligent people, that it stresses me out much more to just observe the people around me going about their lives as if nothing is wrong, that the people here are a great source of support, and that it beats hands down watching tv, reading a book or cleaning as a source of relaxation when it comes to my spare time. 2. I have to keep informed of new developments, to watch "barometers" that will give me a clue as to when to bail out to my 9 hours drive Y2k retreat.

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), January 11, 1999.