Happy New Year gentle reader! How does this day find us? Are we fleeing clouds of radioactive or biologically toxic dust? Are we killing our neighbors to prevent them from killing us or taking a bite of our precious supply of MRE's salvaged from operation "Desert Storm?" Are we cursing because our bank's ATM machines have all locked-up and refuse to function? Are we fleeing from felons, released when the time-locks on their prison cells automatically opened? Are we languishing in the darkness because the utility companies have all shutdown?
Nope.
The doom-sayer were wrong yet again. No comets fell from the sky and no reactors were slagged. The ATM's stoically dispensed what money was in our accounts even as the famous ball dropped and lovers kissed-in the new century.
If you're one of the victims of the doomsday prophets like Gary North, you're probably already plying your well rehearsed excuses. "We were prepared." "God spared us." Or some other such nonsense.
The fact is, there isn't and never was anything magical about the date "1/1/2000." It's just an arbitrary number. A count of years on a calendar created by a monk a handful of centuries ago. It's NOT a celebration of the birth of one religion's savior (or it would be about a week earlier). It, like the paranoia surrounding this particular roll-over, is purely man-made! Sure, some programs could display a date incorrectly. Or, they might calculate a debt improperly. But HEY! WAKE UP, they could always have done that! The bankers who issue 30-year mortgages fixed this problem long ago. And the power companies? C'mon, not one volt, amp or watt was unaccounted for. Sure, some weenies in Oregon tried to bring down a set of transmission lines, but even this act of deliberate sabotage was not enough to be noticed.
So, I hope you will join me in putting this behind us and looking forward to what might be the most wonderful time in human existence (yet). We are on the verge of amazing medical breakthroughs. We are starting to realize our potential for planetary destruction (hopefully, in time to prevent it). America is booming and so are many countries around the world.
But all is not perfect. Millions, perhaps billions are needlessly subject to hunger, disease and violence. We, the lucky, must not forget our brethren.
Perhaps that would be a good "New Year's resolution." I will pause each day to remember how fortunate I am. I will not forget that others are not so lucky. I will strive to help my fellow beings.
Dear reader, I wish all the best for you and yours during the coming year. Thank-you very much for taking the time to read this column.