Id like to bend some ears, because Im sure quite a few of you will know just what I mean. I was raised by Ozzie and Harriet. They are now retired and approaching 70.

Dad was a good provider, came straight home from Germany during the Korean conflict, headed straight for a local factory and spent 40+ years grinding little teeny, tiny components for rockets to the millionth of an inch. We were lower middle class, but we had everything we needed, the bills were paid, and good old-fashioned American family values were abundant.

Mom was a stay-at-home mom until my little brother went to school, then she got a job as a teacher's aide so that she had the same schedule. The pillow cases were always ironed, always had home-made cookies in our lunch boxes, chicken every Sunday. You know the drill. Ozzie and Harriet.

Now they are enjoying their carefully planned retirement. Nothing fancy. Golf when they want to, Myrtle Beach for the winter, active in community organizations, socializing with their friends. Life is good for them.

When I first figured out that Y2K needed to be paid attention to, I immediately shared with my mom some concerns (they live nearby-and by the way, we are very rural and used to being inconvenienced) and she "got it" right away.

My dad, bless his heart, thought that Y2K was some new fancy computer that the local city government bought, and they spent too much money on it. It's all just a lot of hype. Why can't they just use pencils and paper? You all have heard it all before.

I thought I had prevailed on the issue of not leaving for Myrtle Beach until after we see what happens, but now I am not so sure, the only thing that will stop them (him, Mom thinks they should wait) is some kind of detail with a property purchase they are making.

It occurs to me that Dad doesn't get it not because he doesn't want to, but because he truly doesn't understand how complicated and interconnected everything is. Life in these parts is pretty simple, folks just don't see the complexities. Not their fault, it's just the way it is.

He thinks that if the bank closes for a few weeks, it won't affect him at all, he can still go to the grocery store and get whatever he wants. He doesn't understand that if the bank closes it probably won't be an isolated incident.

This is getting too long. Just wanted to share that I understand a little more now why so many people aren't prepping. They don't understand because they have no previous experience to base it on. Everything else has always turned out OK so why shouldn't this? It's too hard to imagine the unthinkable, so they assume it just won't happen.

Thanks for listening. Guess I have to rethink my own preps a little to include the folks. They would be OK for a few days, but if things are rough in the long run......

-- lilsparky (star@dmcom.net), September 12, 1999

Answers

Been there done that. My folks are gone, bless 'em, but Dh's folks (mid 70's) are our responsibility. They don't get it - in terms of why it is happening but they believe and trust us. Their biggest concerns are about their medications and what they would do if they couldn't get any. We told them if it really got bad they would have to come stay with us. So their preps are with this in mind. I am truly scared for all the older people who don't have family to help them or whose families are DGI.

-- April (Alwzapril@home.com), September 12, 1999.

My parents are in their 80s. I have convinced them to prep a tad more than what they already have for an earthquake. They live in another part of the country, far from both my sister and myself. They have friends and church where they are and it is a warm climate. Most important, they have doctors and medical facilities where they are. I have thought it over and, rather than try and move them to my remote burgh, I believe that they will do better where they are.

-- anon (anon@anon.com), September 12, 1999.

lilspary, I have DWGI family as well. Mine do not even have the excuse of a modest education (about history and the world) to make their grasshopper mentalities more understandable. You have to do what you can, and not feel guilty about what you could not do. I get E-mails daily almost blubbering with gratitude about how the material on my site has helped someone stay on course with preps (when they started to believe the media pollyannaish BS) or helped convert someone close to them to GI status. With all the research and stuff I have written (barely half of the latter is on my site so far) and gotten at least my father to read, I still cannot get my parents and sister to think past next week. Don't feel bad, no matter what happens; you did what you could.

www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), September 12, 1999.

lilsparky, Can you help them prep in Myrtle Beach? At least the weather will be good there--I'm going to Vero...

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWayne@aol.com), September 12, 1999.