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Y2K: An Opportunity in Disguise?

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1999 Winter

For the last year I have been following the developments around the "Y2K-Millennium Bug" and its accompanying "embedded chip" problems. On some days I'm sure that it marks the entire end of Western Civilization as we know it and on other days I think it's just a gigantic scam to sell gold futures and upgraded models of everything possible that runs by computer chips (which is pretty much everything that has moving parts, these days). And depending on the day, I either have the audacity to think I might be able to "make a difference" by organizing my local neighborhood, or I am in despair because there is nothing that I can do to change the larger picture or I'm tired of it all and just don't care.

But deep inside me, there is a passion growing that links back to the '60s when most of us teenagers thought that we could really change the world and create a future full of love, peace and cooperation. In those days, I remember a wind blowing with the vitality of hope for a world where hunger was ended, peace between nations was the norm, all peoples were treated as equals and the greatest scientific and creative minds of the world were harnessed to solve the problems of humanity. And guess what? I think that after all these years of waiting without a great deal of overt success, we are about to face a moment in time which may provide the perfect opportunity to actualize those very dreams of so long ago.

In a way, I see it as the perfect cosmic joke. If I were God herself, I couldn't think of a better scenario to test humanity as to how we choose to meet this particular point in history than "Y2K." And, it is abundantly obvious to everyone that there is no "enemy"--no one "out there" who has created this mess we are in--except us. Also, in reality there is no problem at all--in the sense of there being less food or clothing, air, water or any of the real "necessities" of life. The problem of Y2K lies in the "extras" that we have chosen as the basis for our lives--those extras that have locked us so deeply into a superstructure of "ease" that is so totally dependent on nonrenewable resources that two zeros in the wrong place might just knock it enough off balance to topple Humpty Dumpty and all the King's Men in countries throughout the world. How absolutely ridiculous! And yet it looks like it might come true--unless we very quickly make some MAJOR shifts in the direction of our thinking as a species.

What would happen to the threat of Y2K if we decided to meet this crisis as a real opportunity for a major paradigm shift? What if we chose to come together as communities throughout the world, to share our resources and care for one another? If we chose to cooperate, live more simply and sustainably and meet one another as extended family we might just find that life could be more enjoyable, less stressful and a whole lot more creative than the way we are currently living. Imagine not having to rush off in traffic every morning to answer a hundred phone calls, faxes, e-mails and customer complaints? What if your day was filled with weeding in the garden plot, playing with the children, visiting an elderly neighbor who needed extra care and creating a simple meal for an "extended family" who had chosen to ride out this "storm" together? Actually, to me, this sounds much more sane than most of our chosen daily routines.

And yet, for some reason, we have all pushed ourselves into a consensual paradigm where money, looks, material possessions, and prestige are worth fighting for, while the simple things in life fall very low on our priority lists. When asked, most of us would probably say that we don't know any way out of the boxes we've put ourselves in. And it's true. Within this paradigm, we are in fact trapped by our credit cards, our mortgages, our health insurance, children's educational bills, and the many conveniences that we have bought or have been convinced that we need in order to live "the good life."

But what if someone came along with a way to change all of that, in a quick and somewhat painless turnaround? What if we all chose to use Y2K as an opportunity to transform our paradigm of living from one of maximum speed and quantity to one of quality of life and relationships? What if we decided to spend the next year working to alleviate the initial sufferings caused by a possibly large and long "disruption of power and services"? By working together intensively as communities and neighborhoods, we just might be able to create whole new ways of being together that use the best of our knowledge of appropriate technology while also going back to some of the more heart-centered approaches of dealing with one another from other times and places.

I believe that all of the ingredients necessary for the change are available to us. There is ample abundance on the planet to make sure that everyone has the basics of life--if only we choose to share them with a little equality. Creativity, intelligence, and education abound in youth and adults alike if they are freed up from their service to greed and dominance. And fortunately, there are still many "Elders" who have known how to live through times without all of the conveniences we imagine are necessary for a happy life. I truly believe that Y2K may just be the wonderful opportunity we need to move us toward the place lots of us have been striving to go since the '60s, finally turning the tide of a run-away "progress."

If Y2K is actually as big a threat as it appears to be to "life as usual," then the other end of the continuum is to plan on hoarding and boarding up our compounds against the possibility that our neighbors might have less than we or want more than they have and come after us and our children with weapons of violence. To me this sounds like more of the same--the current global scenario played out in the microcosm of our very homes and neighborhoods--and not the choice I would make, nor advise anyone else to make. To me what is rational in a time like this is to "pull out the stops" and invest your time, your money, your knowledge, and your resources in anything that will help to create the world you want to live in in the future. NOW! Tomorrow may be too late. And certainly, January 1, 2000 may be too late--at least to alleviate some suffering for yourself, your children, the people you love, and many people around the world.

After much consideration, I myself have decided to both think globally and act locally around this issue. In my personal life, I plan to help support the group of people I live with in becoming more self-reliant so that we don't have to fear a power or water failure or a lack of food over a period of time if the systems shut down. And we are also working to organize our local neighborhood and our county to be better prepared so that if systems shut down, the people will be able to support one another rather than competing for apparently limited resources. Fortunately, our area is becoming one of the leaders in this movement towards proactive planning, which will hopefully pay off in great positive social dividends regardless of whether the electricity goes off or not. And globally, I am working with a project called Peace Day/Year 2000 (PDY2K) in which we hope to encourage a very large proportion of the population of the world to come together in simultaneous silence, prayer, and meditation for peace and a global paradigm shift around the time of the new millennium. Again, I perceive that the preciseness of the Y2K moment (January 1, 2000), the turning of the Millennium, the many prophecies for Earth changes and of total global transformation--all coming at approximately the same time in our human history--are fortuitous in bringing us to a focal point for humanity.

To me it seems obvious that most of us will be awaiting the New Millennium Moment with a certain amount of intensity. Peace Day/Year 2000 will invite the people of the planet in unison to focus our collective energies on a minute of silent prayer, meditation, or simple thoughts for peace and positive transformation across the planet. The plan is that this will take place as the sun begins to rise over Gisborne, New Zealand on the first day of the years 2000, 2001, and 2002. Global televised and Internet events will celebrate this symbolic coming together of the people of the world and there is the hope that the "100th Monkey Effect" will miraculously take place and as a species we will choose and know that we truly want to and can create a peaceful, loving world. I invite each of you to join me and billions of others in celebrating the fact that we can choose peace and love over whatever other scenario presents itself.

Dianne Brause is a member of Lost Valley Educational Center. Reach her at [email protected].

©1998 Talking Leaves
Winter 1999
Volume 8, Number 3
Visions of an Ecological Future