With the conclusion of 1999 little more than a month away, discussion of the year 2000 and of exactly what the future entails has continued to stir the society in which we live.
Hype about the “coming of the millennium”-accompanied by the belief that a part of our technology is not Y2K compliant-has gained popularity and recognition through various forms of media since early last year. State officials have even gone so far as to hire computer experts to oversee the Y2K-preparation process for businesses in California.
It is no wonder that people worry about the coming of Jan. 1, 2000. After all, their trepidations and concerns have been prompted by others repeatedly telling them that, once the clock strikes midnight Jan. 1, computer calendar systems across the world may fail to differentiate “00” between it being the year 2000 or the year 1900.
According to the gist of the hype, this possible computer misinterpretation will result in the eventual malfunction of any systems that are computer dependent. The progressive breakdown of computers may also result in the loss of civilization as a whole, they say, because our society relies on technology so heavily that we cannot function properly without operable computers.
Yet specialists in the world of technology and computers are reassuring the public that our technology is Y2K compliant and will therefore very likely survive the new year and several years thereafter.
Meanwhile, others are preparing emergency kits and family wills for the arrival of the new century. They fear everything from the arrival of the largest earthquake in history (which is rumored to be seven hours long) to Earth’s self-destruction and breakdowns in banking systems to societal rioting and chaos.
But is there really a necessity to worry about what lies ahead in the future or in the new century?
People who lived during the late 1890s and still live to tell about those times have said their society went through similar dilemmas when the 20th Century was approaching. Obviously a number of those same individuals survived past Jan. 1, 1900, or they would not be around to tell their story today.
In our present-day society, the same concerns are existent, and there may be some underlying truth to them.
Some of these incidents, if not all of them, might occur once the year 2000 arrives, but no one can ever really tell the future.
Not one individual (whether he or she be a member of the religious clergy, a confidant of computer guru Bill Gates, a world-famous psychic or even the average Joe Schmo) can detail what will happen within the next five minutes-much less what will take place 43 days from today.
However, if we continue to panic about Y2K and malfunctioning technology, we may bring the world’s end upon ourselves.
There are concerns, for example, that some people will be so caught up in it being the “end of the world,” that they will end up robbing others of their lives in the process of celebrating their own “last days.”
In the meantime, come Jan. 1, 2000, there may be turmoil, confusion and uncontrollable rioting; there may also be universal peace.
But each of these conditions may also occur tomorrow. No one knows.
Therefore, rather than focusing on living out life to the greatest extent on New Year’s Eve, then we, as a society, should concentrate on living out every day as if it were New Year’s Eve 1999.
If the world was to end at the dawning of the new year, would we live our lives differently from now until that time? Hopefully we would rather celebrate the beauty and miracle of what we do have in that same manner every day.
Araceli Esparza, a senior journalism major, is editor in chief of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at esparzaa@ulv.edu.
