What Glimmer of Hope Do You Have?

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I posted earlier "What Frustrates You the Most?" Actually, I asked it because I know many of us are frustrated as hell, and it's good therapy to release and vent what angers us. I was surprised at how many responded, and the fact that many of you feel the same things that I feel, so we are not alone, we must all be normal. Now, I would like to know if any of you have any glimmer of hope? Do you feel as though your preparations are as good as they are going to get?

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), January 13, 1999

Answers

I'll have to check out that thread you mentioned. I could stand to vent a little... At this point, I can't rationally justify feeling good about anything dealing with Y2K. There isn't any leadership on this issue from Washington (it could be argued that there isn't any leadership ability in Washington for anything). There is "positive" news coming out from the government about complience, but how can I or anyone else really believe that (so, you've more than doubled your complience without an increased budget or new personel, hmm)? Now, it also seems likely that if Y2K is going to hit, it's going to hit before 1/1/2000. For those of us who were planning to be out of the big city for the new year, things have gotten much more complicated. I just hope that I have the forsight to get out before travel restrictions are imposed.

-- d (d@dgi.com), January 13, 1999.

Barb

I have a glimmer of hope that a lot of really sh!tty people will die. I'm not kidding, it is time to thin the herd a bit.

Feeling a bit punky tonite, but still serious.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), January 13, 1999.


Only on a local scale do I see people involved, concerned and acting with mitigation strategies, contingency plans and business continuity plans being prepared. There have been very frank discussions of exposure and need for due diligence and properly documented actions.

The main hopeful sign I see is people thinking beyond Y2K, the date, and into the next four years or so. That means people in my city have got over most of the behaviour inhibiting thoughts and are positively in doing what they can to prevent failures, reduce the impact of potential failures and prepare for the unknowns as well as possible.

Fewer people avoid the issues now and in meetings where Y2K is the focus requests for information are very much to the point.

On the down side, the Chevron report is really disturbing because NZ is a trading nation and most trade is via ships. We need those big boats ploughing the seas to sell over goods and maintain our small space in the world economy. Brazil is a worry too as are the unresolved problems in Asia, the Middle East, the list goes on. The distraction of the Euro and impeachment are also a concern.

So some good stuff close at hand.. but bad stuff further away.

Not well enough prepared yet but will be for the NZ context. I figure if I help fix my small corner and everyone does the same in theirs this thing might stay at a 4.

-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), January 13, 1999.


That there will be glimmers of electric light on 1/1/2000. If the lights are still on, we all have a chance. Life will be different, but we may be able to muddle through this mess.

Worldwide depression is now my "1". However, if we can keep lady Liberty's torch lit, we may provide a glimmer of hope for the rest of the world.

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), January 13, 1999.


No, the preparations in my household are not as good as they're going to get. We've got more to prepare. We're living on savings while I prepare (almost) full-time for Y2K. When we take care of our water and electric contingencies, gather in some more food from Sam's Club, prepare our front lawn (in a CITY) for gardening post-Y2K, etc, etc, THEN maybe we'll feel it's as good as it's gonna get. But, so far, that's been like a receeding event horizon. BUT, we ARE psychologically prepared for times which may call forth from us the very real need to "adapt or die". . . As for "any glimmer of hope", I have worked in the hospice community for many years, and the "turn of phrase" there is looking at "hope" differently-- changing it from "a hope for a cure", to "a hope for a reconsiliation/peaceful death/ or freedom from suffering". So, for me, there IS a glimmer of hope; perhaps, even, more than a glimmer of hope. Borrowing from the hospice analogy, not a hope for a "cure" or a "total remediation" or a "deus ex machina" kind of "fix" for what is collectively known as "Y2K", but a hope that by our personal preparations (material, psychological, [and] spiritual) we will "survive" the depopulation phase of Y2K and not have had to come face-to-face with the horror of having to decide to "kill or be killed". A hope that when the dust of Y2K fallout has settled that we will be able to live "good" lives, be in charity with our neighbors, and be healthy and well enough to contribute to making the society in which we find ourselves more decent and less complicated than the one in which we find ourselves now. . . This "hope", however, runs in the background while in the foregound is calm controlled low-grade panicky anxiety. . .(!) Good preparations to you all.

-- Albert E. Potts (Potts5116@aol.com), January 13, 1999.


I don't think I've ever been more hopeful in my life, because hopefully Y2K will change our world. I can handle eating rice and living without power if that's what it takes. What I don't like is oppression, war, corruption, control, greed, discrimination, waste and destruction, and all of these other lovely things which mankind has invented. Anything which causes any kind of change is fine with me. I'm looking forward to it!

-- (m.d.@z.com), January 13, 1999.

Unfortunately Uncle Deedah, along with the really shitty "people"

will be alot of real good people .You may be one of those :o(

-- Mike (mickle2@aol.com), January 14, 1999.


m.d. hit the nail right on the head. It sounds like he sees the world the same as I in respect to hope for the world. Mike

-- flierdude (mkessler0101@sprynet.com), January 14, 1999.

We have nothing but positive stuff to look forwards to.

At least, that's what I've decided is going to happen to me. Think positive. Work positive. Positive action will achieve a lot.

--Leo

-- Leo (lchampion@ozemail.com.au), January 14, 1999.


No our preparations are not where I want them to be. We are trying to Y2k-proof our farm as well so that maybe we can be part of the solution for our area (not that anyone else in our county is preparing). I have goals that I have had for a lifetime and none of those will be achieved if Y2k is really bad. I keep trying to set other goals, but it is very difficult to be positive under the circumstances. I do try to find joy where I can and not let everything get to me.

I hope that good comes out of this - perhaps bringing goodness and ethics back into our world, but given the current state of affairs and people's attitudes, it is a very small hope.

-- Just Me (none@nomail.com), January 14, 1999.



My glimmer of hope is that in this house of cards that we live in, when the come tumbling down that it is not totally *impossible* that the cards that remain standing will be the exact ones we need.

I mean, sometimes the impossible *does* happen...! (Impossible is just a measure of difficulty)

That's my glimmer of hope

-- Sub-Mitt (lurking@ofcourse.com), January 14, 1999.


What glimmer of hope do I have? Plenty! I have the "blessed hope" stated in the Scriptures for the believer... (I Thes. 4:16-18)... "For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Now, that's hope!

-- Peggy @ Peace (rede4him@aol.com), January 14, 1999.

Amen Peggy! I too am a believer. However, in case the Lord does tarry, I am still preparing. Keep the faith.

-- Sue (conibear@gateway.net), January 15, 1999.

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