I don't know why, guess its been bred into me, after all my Grandfather, on my fathers side, had a bumb selter built under his house in the 60's. I have a redheaded Uncle on one side, who is a survivalist, A white headed Uncle on the other side of the family who is a frontiersman.

Even little Lea, has the bug, as one of her favorite games when she has little girlfriends over is to dress up like Pioneer girls, and go gathering berrys to take in to Pioneer Mom, to make into Tarts. The whole time they are pretending that they need to pick berrys to survive. Yep, it runs in my family bad.

When Y2K came up, I fell for it, hook,line and sinker, I just felt like something was going to happen. Is it just because I was raised with the religion, that the end of the world was to come and God would raise wrath? Is that what gives me the feeling. No, I don't think so, it's more like a feeling, like you get when the wind is sifting , like a stranger walking into the room and like a storm coming.

The Indians talk of a time of change, a time of upheavel and then new life. Maybe it is the dream of that. Tell me now If you could pick any time, of all time, to be alive in, when would it be?

For me it would be the beginning of time. When all is new, and misty, and waking and clean and fresh. Oh yes, I want to know a time like this!

Peoples thoughts are changing. Spirits are reaching out to us from the beyond and making their presence known. We are all evolving so fast! to me it seems as if the bad were getting badder and the good is getting gooder. ?

The Mystic's say that the earth is going to be shifted on its axis. Shifted on it's axis. Just what does that mean? They say that there will be a sift in the way that the world looks in outer space. Places that were cold will get hot, and the other way around. Water will rise up where there is dry land, and dry land will appear where there was water.{ Wouldn't it be cool if a spring popped up in my back yard!]

I'm not like freaking out and wanting to run and hide when a sift happens. Actually sometimes when I am in traffic, or having to go into town, seeing the angry mop, I wish it would happen soon, as soon as I get back home again.

I think it is going to be a very awesome, but very needed fresh breath of wind. And you know what, we all chose to be here. Here we are. We must have wanted to be a part of this change. I know that I did. I am the change in my family, the one who sifted. that has been my part to play.

What do you think, do you feel winds of change? Or is this just another illusion of mine?

From the one who should be sleeping. Tren

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

Answers

Hi Tren,

I too, fell for Y2K hook, line, and sinker and admit to being somewhat disappointed that more didn't happen. I don't think it's a bad thing that everyone could slow down a little and really smell the roses. Of course, I wouldn't be sitting here now sending you an e- mail message or enjoying all the information/banter from any of the forums.

I tend to like what DH refers to as "disaster books"; you know, end of the world kinda stuff. I guess I like to think of myself as a survivor. Each time I read one I kinda get all twitchy inside and start going over my food inventory again.

In another thread, there was a discussion about "what do you do to get ready for winter?" Since Y2K, I've BEEN ready for winter or anything else that comes my way (I like to think so, anyway). I keep at least a six month supply of food on hand. We have lanterns and candles, a well in the cellar for water, chickens, etc., etc.

But even with Y2K being a bust, I still feel that if nothing else, it was a wake up call. Sorta a fire drill to make us aware that things could change and we should be ready. I still have the feeling that there is something big on the horizon, but maybe it's just my future. I'm still gonna be prepared anyway.

I smiled when you talked about Lea and her friend playing "pioneer". I can remember as a child taking berries and wrapping them in grape leaves to "preserve" them for later.

Wishing you enough.

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

Do I feel the winds of change? Well, maybe - a little; but I think it comes more from reading (and sighing over) the daily papers. Our Y2K plans still hold - there's more than enough room for all the family out here; and room enough to grow food for them all.

If I could pick any time to go back to; I think I would choose the late 1930's and early 1940's. Yes, I know there was a war. But it was also the last time in memory that this country pulled together and supported not only the people serving in the Armed Forces; but also each other at home. There were enough modern convienences to keep me happy (no microwave - oh well, I'd miss my victorio strainer more!) like electricity and hot and cold running water and indoor toilets. But there were also enough of the old ways and attitudes and skills that make me nostalgic for that time now.

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

HHHHmmmmmmmmmm. I hope your right tren.In my opinion this old world could use a good bit of shakin up. I've always thrived on a challenge and I think things are waaay too easy here in the good old U S A. Probably time to thin the herd. Of course we humans have the options of lessening our numbers voluntarily or mama nature will do it for us. This sure won't be the first time. On the other hand, looking back at Y2K, I started to get all excited and then figured 'what the hell, whatever will be will be. I didn't lose any sleep over it. If it had happened, I would have adjusted to that reality and did the best I could and then either lived or died. Either way it would have sure been an exciting time. Irregardless, it wouldn't have changed the fact of my death only the timing. Even before that, during the early days of the cold war, I remember all the nuke drills in school and those that could built underground fallout shelters. My dads' advice was that if a bomb was on its way, the only practical thing to do was put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye. Good advice even today I think. So, I'm behind you all the way, bring on them winds of change tren ( i'm softly humming 'dont worry, be happy'as i type this) As my partner often reminds us "worry is not preparation"

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

This probably isn't very profound, but my grandparents used to tell me that the same feelings of impending doom were present at the turn of the last century as well. Of course, we had two World Wars thereafter, major outbreaks of Influenza that killed huge numbers of people, a stock market crash, and all those other inconveniences, but I'm not really sure that life is any more precarious today than it was at any other time of history. Thirty Year Wars, Hundred Year Wars, Ghenghis Khan and mongol hoardes, the burning of the great library, the collapse of Europe's economy when tulips went out of fashion in the Ottoman Empire (one of my favourite Chaos Theory stories) and people reduced to eating the tulips as food instead, witch hunts and the Spanish Inquisition, the conquest of the New World and genocide of the native populations....

I'm sure that a lot of people over the generations have felt that it is the end of the world(as we know it or otherwise). However, there have repeatedly been great rises and great falls of human development, then the cycle repeats itself. The Black Death is generally not thought of as a beneficial event, however, in it's own way, it brought about the development of this little gadget sitting right in front of you now -- the computer. (fantastic program called 'Connections'...if you can ever find it on tape, it is absolutely fascinating) I've forgotten all the ins and outs of how it came about exactly, but the Black Death when it finally burned itself out, left lots of room for expansion for the survivors and prosperity. Suddenly, everyone had more of everything -- more land, more houses, more clothes (after all, their neighbors were now dead). With more clothes, old rags were sent off to the rag trade. One rag trader got wealthy and expanded into fancy woven goods with his profits, later that evolved into the development of the jacard weaving machine that operated on a series of punched out cards as template to tell the machine what to do....and that jacard process would become the punch card that the first computers ran on!

If you observe global warming that is going on now, polar ice caps are melting at an unprecedented pace. Areas of tundra that have been frozen over for millennia are melting so fast that the paleobotanists and biologists can't keep up with collecting the specimens that are being uncovered by the thaw fast enough to prevent them from deterioration. Areas of tundra are discovered to be covered in antelope poop, and as we know, there are no antelopes known to live in the arctic. This is from prehistoric herds that grazed there when the landscape there was warm to support them, as well as having discovered an unknown breed of prehistoric horse that has been recovered whole (as a horse nut, I'm very excited about this find!).

People who poo-poo global warming say that this PROVES that the scientists are wrong and that there is nothing to worry about, drill the Arctic Wildlife Reserve for a 6 month supply of petroleum so that they don't have to switch over to hybrid cars and can still run their jetskis, snowmobiles, and generally maintain the status quo Americans have come to expect and the rest of the world to try and emulate.

However, if that is the case, then a lot of these people are going to drown when the land that they're living on returns to being seabottom like it was back then. It also means that glaciers will come running down over a huge amount of the land that feeds the world -- Canadian and American prairies and plains.

Will we see it in our lifetimes? Maybe not. Some people don't care what happens to their descendants as long as they've 'got theirs'. Will our fossil fuel energy exhaust itself during our lifetimes? That seems highly likely. What will be the result? Hard to predict by Chaos Theory as to how it will run, but in general, history shows us that humans don't tend to play nice and share in the face of adversity. It will bring out the best in some, and the worst in others. But even Mahatma Ghandi was stopped by one tiny little piece of metal fired from the gun of one person.

On the other hand, perhaps we will just have nuclear war and get it all over with quick. China and Russia are very nervous about the proposed (and from everything I've read, worthless) missile shield system that our Leader is pushing, and wants to break a signed treaty to get his way (and, I sardonically observe, wonder who got the juicy defense contract on?). Maybe we will all go out in a ball of pure light, burned into the concrete forever, like the population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Change is inevitable (as are Death and Taxes). We can try and manipulate events to steer our course in what we THINK may be the best course, but this boat we're all riding on doesn't handle well,and the steering just plain sucks.

I do feel that some day when man has passed from existance, most likely from his own foolishness, that Nature will start again. Bugs seem to be the most likely contenders at the moment, but who knows? Possibly those evolved and intelligent bugs in that Future will uncover the remains of humanity, and find those burned forms etched in concrete and wonder....or if they will have any use at all for the carbon forms that our billions of bodies have transmuted into, coal, petroleum, and diamonds?

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

Sorry that got so long. I guess I was on a roll. If jz is going to have "Don't Worry -- Be Happy" for a soundtrack, I guess mine is going to have to have "Don't Fear The Reaper".

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

Wow Julie, How profound. I'd have to say I agree with most everything you said. One thing that is very scary about the future of life on Earth is that the speciation of wild plants and animals has come to a standstill according to the scientific community. This is a direct result of human degredation of the Earth's natural systems. This has NEVER happened before in the whole history of life on earth. Would the Earth repopulate it's naturally occurring abundance of biodiversity if man exited the scene? Perhaps, but perhaps not. God gave us the most fantastic gift of a diversity of life forms beyond our comprehension and we seem hell bent on wiping them out.

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

Wow, Julie, I never knew a person could pack so much philosophy into such a small space. I loved it!

Will these "intelligent bugs" you invision for the future be known as "computer bugs"?

Seriously, I enjoyed your tome, and agree with you.

JOJ

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

Debi

I don't think that it will all be lost. I think that there are protecters of nature, every where, Well even I keep the wild Columbine and the rare velvet violets alive on my weed shelter homestead! Remember, the People down under, some are living at a sacred spot and working, meditating daily on the healing of the earth.They are protecting scacred plants. These wild things are hiding, They will be waiting to reproduce and multiply once more, when things change.

Our Mother lies wounded, on the ground with her baby still suckling at her breast.We have been demanding, ungratefull children. Perhaps that baby can stand on it's own two feet, and grow to lift up it's mother and help her heal, now that we are old enough to see the folly of our youth!

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

I love reading what everybody had to think about this, I am gonna print it all off, to dwell over. We gotta go get BreBEe so another highway trip is in store! Pray for me!

Polly I can just see you aback in the 30's. You would fit right in.

Trev, Dianne, I liked the way you talked about disaster books . Do you soppose that this kind of thinging is a tingle hobby for us, like Julie liking to watch horrer movies. Julie! Yuk!grin

JZ, your father must be a very wise man. I think we came to experiance what we came to experiance, and if we follow our hearts then we will be where we are soppose to be, and what is soppose to happen will happen. "Worry is not preparation", I like that ! I'm gonna tape that to my fridge!

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

Trendle- Your post about Mother Earth was beautiful. I believe in the power of positive thinking, but the more I learn about the present and probable future state of the Earth's natural systems the less optomistic I am.

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

Debi, Thanks . I think that we should think positive too. I don't think that we should dwell on the problems but the solutions. What do you think?

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001

Well, My husband and I have been talking about this for a while, and we both think SOMETHING is going to happen, though not sure what. We are paying off all our bills--we've discussed doing this for a while, but are at a point that we feel it will "make or break us" in the near future. Yes, I know having all the bills paid off is just common sense, but with 4 teenagers, sometimes it's easier said than done. I have increased my garden this year and am canning everything extra we don't eat fresh--I usually can about half of it and give the rest to friends and neighbors. We are also making sure both vehicles are in good condition, and anything that needs fixed is getting done-- you never know what will be available in hard times. In addition, we are saving money to buy a larger piece of property. We can have a large garden and a few small animals where we are right now, but the kids will be on their own before long and I would like enough property for them and their future families if/when things get really bad. I sure feel like a doomsayer, but I also gravitate to movies and books slanted to preparedness, etc. We will prepare for the worst and hope it doesn't happen.

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001

Trendle, I might be able to shed a little light on the 'pole shift' scenario:

I remember reading a book lent to me from an aquaintance named 5/5/2000 (or something like that), which described a scenario which the earth spinning on the axis of the poles would be thrown out of whack by all of our planets lining up on May 5, 2000. The ice caps would shatter and be thrown towards the equator (from the centrifugal force of our spinning planet), causing massive tidal waves along our coastlines and going deeply inland.

Sounds like two bottles of Nyquil to me . . .

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001

I tend to be a little on the spooked side, too, I guess. Never hurts to be prepared for something! However, it does amaze me how much mileage some doom-and-gloomers can squeeze out of any percieved or even real downturn. (Example: for some reason, I never did unsubscribe to Gary North's newsletters from Y2k times and now he's emailing something DAILY....if it keeps up, I may have to consider something more significant than just hitting the delete button...)

Between folks that have an economic gain to make from promoting scarcity and those who have some religious agenda that involves scaring the hell out of people, we are getting zapped with more anxiety-producing commentary all the time. Add the facts that the acceleration of change is whirling us all around anyway and that we cannot trust anything we hear or read anymore, and you have a fine medium in which to cultivate angst...

Oh yeah....toss in a little "Brave New World" (a popular topic lately...) and it gets even more interesting...*sigh*

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001

What your feeling is just the normal cycle coming recession/depression (one has to happen every twenty years or so). At least most of us here on the forums will be quite comfortable residing on "Waltons' Mountain".

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001