Menno, Bonnie, everyone else; Here's another Monty Python line;

"I sentence you to hang by the neck until you cheer up!"

Here's some more silly stuff to help lighten the euy2k mood.

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

The trouble with doing something right the first time is nobody appreciates how difficult it was.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.

A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 1999

Answers

Letter to Rick Cowles: PART II

I am back like a bad actor.

I said I would never post again, and yet--here I am.

Why? Because I am withdrawing from this forum. I have committed to "Cold Turkey" but I am doing "Withdrawal Lite."

I am back here with potentially stunning news. Then again--maybe not. That's the thing about Y2K.

When I left the profession of television news, (my choice) I was one step away from the networks. I was VERY good at what I did. I chose to withdraw. I covered them all during that time, Ronald Reagan, F. Lee Bailey, the list goes on and on. Guess what? I never took photos to be able to prove it. Why? Because as a journalist I entered the field to do a service to the public, and it never mattered to me one iota whether I would someday be able to prove it. Walter Cronkite was my hero. He still is. In short, I'm not flashy.

Here's the deal as it relates to my "bad actor" thread.

In the course of history, it matters not one whit whether the grid goes down or not.

Why? Because everything comes down to survival of the fittest.

The definition by Webster that I like most is the following: Fittest means: "Adapted to the environment so as to be capable of surviving."

Rick, the very fact that you are here to write your book and host this forum means that you had ancestors who had enough common sense to not only reproduce, but keep WHAT THEY REPRODUCED ALIVE.

I thank you for hosting this forum because the most important thing about this entire issue is the fact that it will tell us who we are. Forums like these will enable us to discover that. Learning how fragile we are has enabled me to make some bold moves. (Like ordering a chemical toilet! Hee. Hee.!)

But the Bottom line is this: God bless America. WE are America. YOU elected your representives to Congress and guess what? However this thing comes out, and whatever happens after that, we are the ones who should take the blame. Not the Republicans. Not the Democrats. YOU!

Why? BECAUSE WE ARE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!

The system is in place. You have a local representative in Congress. You have two State Senators. The founding fathers of this country were NOT STUPID! When's the last time you called up your local representative and chatted about your concerns with him or her? Do you even know who he or she is?

Electric is the big one, but guess what guys?

YOU are bigger.

What do we need to survive even if the whole thing tanks? What we need to survive is just what the species has always needed to survive. Shelter. Water. Fire. Food. Family.

I am thankful for this forum because it has taught me something about myself, and what it should teach each and every one of us every day.

Aren't we great? Aren't we terrified? Will this potential horror teach us about ourselves? Betcha on all counts!

Now, after the posts drop (after I post this), watch them rise again, after I disappear.

But whoever I reached with this little thing I wrote, I may have done something to teach us all about ourselves, and that's why I went into journalism in the first place.

In the meantime, "Buy some beans!" (Hee hee)

God bless all of you. I pray for you everyday whether ya know it or not.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 1999

By the way guys, if any of you like my writing style, email me.

You have given me an idea that may enable me to convert the terror I have experienced by reading your collective posts into a book.

We are a wonderful species. We are capable of so many things.

Hey Rick, your thoughts on this post? Email me. After all, I know you found a publisher!

-- Anonymous, January 30, 1999