I've been intrigued by several comments in the threads that say, "In the future, we should do X, Y, and Z..." where "we" refers to the entire human race, or at least the U.S. population.

It's great to think such noble thoughts, and perhaps if we can express them with sufficient eloquence and passion, the human race might be motivated to change -- especially if confronted with a really serious Y2K crisis.

However, I can't help be a little doubtful that such cosmic changes will occur, at least during my lifetime; others have expressed similar feelings.

Seems to me that we should identify things that identify things that need to be done at the national/global level; if we're lucky, maybe we'll spawn something equivalent to the peace movement or ecology movements of previous decades. But we should also identify things that need to be done at the local -- city, town, municipal -- level, because there is at least a modest possibility that we can effect change at that level.

Most of all, though, we need to identify things that can be done at the personal/family level. I may not be able to change things in City Hall, let alone in Washington, DC; but I have the option, and the power, to change the way I live my own life. I can't dictate things to my family (nor would I even if I could), but I can work with them to learn some positive lessons from the Y2K experience. If I accomplished nothing more than that, it would be a step forward.

It's not a new idea, but perhaps one worth remembering again: think globally, act locally.

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (HumptyDumptyY2K@yourdon.com), August 06, 1999

Answers

Ed, since I think we will get to a ten within a few years anyway, I believe all survivors will perforce become leavers. Children will be brought into the world only with the gravest prior consideration and the certainty that they can be well cared for. When the children are raised in a setting of belonging to the earth, they will gravitate to the nature spirits and eschew the temptation to control and dominate. It will be most important that the children be brought up without rigid parental and religious authority. All non-loving parental interventions, but especially beatings will engender fear of authority, anger, and a desire to scapegoat others. This is what we have now! and must not return to. I do believe Ishmaels' assertion that homo sapiens sapiens can evolve if we belong to the earth instead of vice versa. I hear in the news now that science is showing we are not nearly as advance beyond the animals as we had insisted we were....homo sapiens is not the end all and be all. I read Findhorn garden and say yes! we are capable of extraordinary communications and harmonies with our fellow earth travelors, the plants, as well. Yes I own a gun or two...just cheap emergency weapons, yes I am considering having to do horrible things, but my real interest lies in finding this higher plane. As all of us must be.

-- Sand Mueller (smueller@azalea.net), August 06, 1999.

While we can all change our own outlook and actions, we can also influence the larger body by rhetoric, example, leadership, and our votes. We can wield influence by seeking realistic positions of leadership and by encouraging reasonable individuals to take such positions. And while I can't TELL my adult children wha to do, I can give occasional advice...

Thus, we can make a difference, if we so choose.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), August 07, 1999.

Sand:it's been my understanding that in times of crises,people breed like lemmings(there are lots of parallels between people and lemmings)

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), August 07, 1999.

Ed;

I have traveled abit in my life, never expected to as a kid but you play the cards you are delt. After several long trips to Asia and China in 1983-4 I was astounded. After returning to the US the comment in my mind was, "The only way that this disparity can be aligned is for us to drop down and for them to come up" The point being that our lifestyle in the US was WAY BETTER and their life style was "no so good". With limited resources to partition amongst us, the only way for us to "all get along" was for us to give up some "stuff" and for them to get some "stuff".

This has been the case. The crowding and shear numbers that I saw in china, I now face everyday on the "freeway". A city is a city and too many people are still too many people. China now has some "free" trade, call it black market, but goods do trade.

Now comes Y2K the great equalizer.

It will really become how much you can remember, not what you know today.

How do we put humpty back togeather. We need to preserve the information that we have gathered first! If we lose it, it will be gone. Storage media (read books and non acid paper) may be our last resort. We can pass the skill of reading to the generations future, we many not be able to pass the art of building a PENTUIM or NEWTON.

My library is small but growing......

Thank you for your help for us all.

Helium

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), August 07, 1999.

"Most of all, though, we need to identify things that can be done at the personal/family level."

I'll certainly agree with you. We've spent far too much time in the past busy-bodying around with everyone else's lives on the national level while neglecting to improve our own level of maturity and responsibility. It's a lot easier (and more fun!) to work on someone else's problems than it is to do your own dirty laundry.

Personal maturity and responsibility HAS to come first, or you are building on a rotten foundation.

T.

-- Teresa May (tmay@computerage.net), August 08, 1999.

I don't know what positive lessons of Y2K so far has taught me. It's a big hassle and an emotional roller coaster. Ever since the first grade, it has always been in the back of my mind that I may not make it to adulthood. From the "duck and cover" drills, the earthquake drills, and all the other threats of disaster that could become a reality, it's a wonder that I made it to age 48. No one can dictate anything to your family because they have minds of their own. But one thing parents can do for their children, that is to love each other unconditionally, and to have respect for other people and their personal property. And how do you teach people that and have them be receptive to changing their behavior? You cannot legislate morality nor put your morals and ethics on anyone else. I believe those that survive Y2K if it's a 10, will be those who have high standards and a willingness to stand up for what is true and honorable. The aftermath community will truly be an interesting one.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), August 08, 1999.

Bardou:

Unfortunately, an equally large percentage of those who survive a hypothetical "10"/infomagic will be those willing and ready to shoot first and not take chances.

I'm not saying it is right, but nearly all tribal levels are based on the idea that "we" are people, and every one else is something less than human......

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), August 09, 1999.

Jon: I am willing to shoot first if my family or property is in any danger of being destroyed. It is my personal right and freedom to do so, only the strong survive.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), August 09, 1999.

One thing we may learn to avoid post-y2k is the "global economy", where we make our shoes in Indonesia because we can pay workers there 19 cents an hour. Long supply lines are not always secure ones. Distance does matter sometimes.

Perhaps we can push for more self-reliant communities after y2k. A great book on this is: Going Local : Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age by Michael H. Shuman. He doesn't show any awareness of y2k in the book, but I think the opportunity for his vision will follow y2k.

-- Rick Stahlhut (stahlhut@net-link.net), August 09, 1999.

Ed, I like very much the idea of changing the world by changing ourselves first. I own a small manufacturing company and we are starting to make the kind of changes that we should make anyway. For example we will be able in the next 140 days to make our office functions independant of the grid. We will install solar panels, light pipes, batteries and so forth. Our factory uses enough power to make it financialy infeasible to have standby generators. However, we will monitor the development of micro turbines. We have a heat load in the form of a curing oven. If we run the natural gas or propane thru a micro turbine to generate electricity and use the waste heat to run our curing ovens we will both save energy and have a more resiliant system. My point of all this is that people can make an impact one light bulb or kilowatt at a time. while we can not do every thing as individuals we can do something. Vince

-- vince hanke (vhanke@wacoboom.com), August 11, 1999.

Ed,

Please let us leave off thinking globally in the vein that it's being done today- by that I mean the push by certain elitists toward a world state. I much prefer Constitutional rights- tattered as they are- to the smarmy "human rights" this crew mouths about, for example. On the other hand, if the approach is to apply our Constitution globally, that I could support.

Nothing will happen unless goals are identified and pushed forward. It is perhaps harder now to accomplish real progress now than it has ever been in the face of all that's going on. I would much rather work to move forward a positive agenda (freedom and assumed responsibility) than to oppose a negative one (control and fostered dependency). But guess which one seems to be taking the fore right now?

I wonder if y2k will chock some of the forward momentum the 'control and dependency' crowd has, or whether it will provide addional excuses to provide for 'needs' at the cost of freedoms.

-- Lee (lplapin@hotmail.com), August 12, 1999.