Sunday | December 31, 2000
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| Why2K?: New dawn is
here, trepidation is out
12/29/2000 At this time last year, America hunkered down for Y2K, the anticipated turn-of-the-millennium computer meltdown. Planes would disappear from radar screens, electricity grids would fail, banks would lose track of entire accounts and scores of other technological disasters would befall the world as the clock struck midnight around the globe, doomsayers predicted. That's the trouble with specific predictions. People tend to remember the missed ones with a hearty "I told you so." And, boy, did the doomsayers miss this one. Now a few embarrassed folks probably still have enough canned tuna and survival rations in garages and pantries to feed an entire battalion of hungry Marines. No doubt, those people spent the year creatively extolling their love of tuna or the virtues of bulk buying. Computer swat teams this New Year's Eve won't be sitting around waiting for bit-and-byte Armageddon. Americans will watch the big apple drop in New York without worrying that a glitch will send it crashing into Times Square. And if your ATM won't give money, the reason probably was in a wrapped box under a Christmas tree. Of course, the truly insistent might say that we're relaxing a bit early because this New Year's Day will mark the real start of the new millennium. Just look at these indisputable signs of a new dawn. The Oklahoma Sooners have a shot at the national collegiate football championship; the Dallas Mavericks are winning; and the Dallas Cowboys aren't. Got a better explanation? While planned celebrations around the world this year will pale in scope to last year's organized exuberance, so will trepidation. That's good. New Year's Day is supposed to be a new beginning and reason to celebrate, not fear, the future. Indeed, that is why Father Time and Baby New Year, icons of transition and renewal, are the occasion's lasting symbols. Imbued in New Year's celebrations is the human desire for a fresh start free of the past's cobwebs including last year's fretting. After all, in the scheme of things, it is irrelevant whether the new millennium began Jan.1, 2000, or will begin Jan.1, 2001. What is important is that the New Year brings hope and optimism to an anxious world. Have a happy, safe and prosperous New Year. |
-- Anonymous, December 31, 2000