It’s midnight, December 31, 1999. The old wind-up clock on the mantle ticks the first second of the new millennium...but not your computer, your digital radio or the electronic controls on your stove. They don’t tick at all. In fact, almost every item n your house with a computer chip in it, no matter how small or unnoticed, fails suddenly as though time itself has stopped.All across the nation, the mainframe computers that control hospitals, power plants, telephone companies, railroad stations, airports and harbors suddenly stop working. Soon, the transportation system breaks down as fuel begins to become scarce. The business of the nation grinds to a halt. Within two weeks, food has disappeared from the shelves of most grocery stores. Millions begin to panic. Food riots paralyze major urban areas. Predatory bands of well-armed malcontents terrorize the countryside. Civilization as we know it is thrown backwards one hundred years. Welcome to the new millennium. This is the worst case scenario predicted by the Y2K computer glitch prophets of doom. It’s a serious problem that has driven some programmers to build survivalist compounds in remote areas. Like most potential disasters, it also sells lots of tabloid newspapers. The Y2K scare has spawned a plethora of threatening cable TV documentaries but despite its apparent science and technology flavor, is really a contemporary version of the time honored tradition of apocalyptic prophesy. When Peter de Jaeger started publicizing the Y2K problem over fifteen years ago it is doubtful he realized, no matter how dire his predictions, that he had joined a chain of prophets that runs back thousands of years and has engaged millions of people. Down through history, time after time, large groups of people have expected the end of the world or at least, its radical transformation. This article is the first of a series of musings that will continue through the year 1999. This series will look at the approaching millennium through small town eyes. Round Top is a small world unto itself, a microcosm. In this issue, we decided to take a microcosmic view of apocalyptic beliefs, that is, a “Round Top” view. Sometimes you can get at big truths by examining small things. Over the years, I have interviewed many of the oldest citizens of Round Top. They talked about their lives and the little town where they lived for the first 40 years of this century. I discovered that most of them grew up in homes with no telephones, no autos and no refrigeration. Their parents cooked and heated with wood stoves. Most were subsistence farmers, producing almost all of their food with their own resources. Some were trades people who worked with their hands, but almost all had to labor incredibly hard by modern standards just to survive. In short, they lived much of their lives in conditions similar to those the most extreme Y2K alarmists predict will be the result of the collapse of computer culture. I decided it was time to visit them again and get their slant on the situation. But, before I start, let’s look at a little world history. Apocalyptic movements are not a new phenomenon. In almost every culture on the planet, there are apocalyptic prophesies that have sparked movements large and small since well before the birth of Christ. Many Americans are familiar with some version of the Judeo-Christian prophesies of Armageddon. The doctrines of a “second coming” and “judgment day” come from Biblical references to such prophesies. Jewish scriptures foretell the coming of “another prophet” like Moses and the return of Elijah from heaven. Early Christians leaders, including the Apostle Paul, alluded to the return of Christ and a subsequent final judgement in one form or another. Jesus tells his disciples in Mark 13 that there will be signs, earthquakes, wars, famines, signaling the beginning of the end. Since Roman times, prophesy from the Book of Daniel and especially from the Book of Revelations, has fueled speculation about the return of Christ and concern over the future of the world. What most Americans don’t know is that similar predictions have occurred in almost every religious tradition on the planet. Hindus, Moslems, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, early Central American civilizations such as the Toltecs and Mayans, all share such prophesy. So have other native American Indian cultures like the Hopi, Navajo, and Lakota Sioux. Written and oral traditions in aboriginal cultures around the world speak of similar prophesies. Modern mainstream religious groups, such as Jehovah’s Witness, the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and the Seventh Day Adventists, all believe that such an event is impending. Revivalist fundamental Christians led by such figures as Pat Robertson and Hal Lindsay believe we are in the last days. They point to telltale signs of Middle East conflict, earthquakes and floods, violence and drugs, AIDS, Ebola viruses, the decline of family and predict an eminent apocalypse. Another interesting fact is that this type of movement is not new. There is some disagreement among historians, but according to medieval scholar Richard Landes of Boston University, this isn’t the first time the planet has been spooked by the appearance of 000 at the end of the date. According to Landes, “the period around 1,000 A.D. may well mark one of the high-water marks of such beliefs in European -- or any -- civilization.” So, the year 1,000 made people crazy too. Apocalyptic predictions have long been a part of human experience. Millions of people down through time have placed their faith in such prophesies. Now, I am not here to make light of these beliefs. I have known many a thoughtful and intelligent person who has included some aspect of apocalyptic theology in their faith. Such ideas are not held only by extremists and kooks. The problem with these beliefs however, is that so far...they have been wrong. The apocalypse has not come. The Rapture has not beamed the faithful up to heaven. The world has not come to end. If Christ has returned, we must not have been paying attention and Satan is still quite active in the world. If old Beelzebub has been thrown into the lake of fire, it apparently agrees with him. That, of course, does not mean the apocalypse can’t happen at any moment. It just means that if Armageddon is going to happen, it’s darn hard to predict. 
According to a story in the Orange County Register, even some of the most steadfast believers no longer offer predictions. The story quotes Robert Johnson, a spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who have predicted the end close to a dozen times over the past hundred years. According to Mr. Johnson, they don’t do that anymore. “We learned our lesson,” he says, but, after a pause, he adds “The Bible has a list of about two dozen things to watch out for. They’ve all happened.”So, excuse me for being a little nervous when suddenly, the Godless computer geeks tell us the apocalypse is coming. The subject has made a goodly number of us nervous for two thousand years. It takes me well into March every year just to remember to add one to the previous year. Next year, I’ll have to change all four numbers! I’m not the only one upset by this new math. Even the most literal minded and scientific among us are beginning to hear footsteps in the face of the year 2,000. That’s why I decided to talk to the experts. Annie Banik, Evelyn Fricke and Leanda Schlabach are three ladies who have known each other since their childhood days in Round Top almost seventy years ago. Annie and her husband Robert, who was born in 1914, recently celebrated their fifty-eighth anniversary. All four were raised in the area and saw plenty of hard times. None of them seemed too concerned about the Y2K computer glitch. In fact, for the most part, they knew little about it. I asked Leanda what would happen if all the computers broke down. Leanda: Well, a lot of the young people would be lost. I feel sorry for these children that are on these computers and such. When they get grown, they won't even know what 2 x 2 is. I was taught very good arithmetic. When we worked in the hamburger stand and they told me "...so and so got that and that," I'd tell 'em right off the bat how much it was. I'd add it up right in my head. I don't even need a pencil. Register: If all the computers stopped running, would that have any effect on you? Leanda: Oh no! The computers wouldn't bother me at all. I have never learned how they run. My neighbor has one down here but I don't find myself into it or anything. I wouldn't need no computer to keep on goin'. Register: If computers run everything and they all come to a crashing halt, how would people survive? Leanda: Well, the young people that are usin' computers, they probably think they can't survive, but the old people will survive. They would keep on doin' what they always did. We'd use our pencils and write. We'd do ever'thing we used to do it. I pointed out that in the modern world, computers run much of what makes society work. I asked the oldtimers how well they thought my generation and the ones after would handle things if the computers failed and we had to fend for ourselves. They were dubious. Evelyn: That's the problem. The younger generation doesn't know how. They'd have to be taught. I've been thinkin' about this a long time ‘cause we are losing so many big farmers, raising their crops and raising their vegetables. They are taking up so much land for building and progress or whatever. That's what's happenin’ around here. The younger generation, they don't want to farm any more. That's too hard of a work. They don't want to raise vegetables. They think everything comes out of a can. Annie: The children nowadays don't know what their fathers and grandfathers had to do to survive. They don't know the value of money. My grandfather worked in the bank. He drove this big ol' Buick car and we'd watch for him and run down the road and open the gate for him so he could drive in. He would give us a nickel or a dime and we were so happy. In those days, people visited with each other...on the weekend. They'd get together and talk. Now, it seems like nobody has time for anybody any more. Sometimes when you sit and think about those things, you just wonder where it's going to, what kind of life the children who are growing up now are going to have. I asked them all if they felt confident people could survive if everything fell apart and they had to grow their own crops and raise their own stock again. Annie: The older people, but not the younger people. Robert: ...and the older ones are old enough that they almost can't do it. Leanda: Me? I could do it, cause I learned it...That’s what a lot of people should learn how to do...to grow things in the garden or put a henhouse in and let the chickens hatch their eggs, raise their own fryers, raise their own hogs and calves and butcher 'em themselves. Evelyn: Well, some would try to survive and some wouldn't. Some people can't take what happens in everyday life It might get so bad that a lot of people might take their own lives, can't face the situation. I could, in some way or another. I did it all my lifetime. There is very little that I have bought, like frozen vegetables and such. It's getting more now because I can't garden now as much as I used to. Years back, we bought very little from the grocery store except for our staples. Ever'thing else we raised. I still work my garden every year as far as I can. I have a small plot and I've already tilled it up...It's going to be ready for planting pretty soon. We used to raise our own meats but now I don't any more. Register: I wouldn’t even know how to raise a chicken... Evelyn: I've had chickens all my life. I lost my last two this year. A coon or a fox got into my henhouse and broke the latch, and my two last hens were gone. All the years my husband and I lived here, we always had chickens. After he passed away, I kept on having chickens cause I loved it. It was something for me to do and I had my own eggs. I didn't have to buy eggs, even sold eggs to the people around here. My children had eggs. I even butchered them. I doubt whether any young kid knows how to dress a chicken. These folks have skills that would be the envy of the most survivalists but they fear their experience will not be passed on. Leanda:They should learn to do those things but they don't learn them. In fact, they don't want to learn. They laugh at us if we say we know how to do this and that...laugh at us. I'm proud that I learned the things I did from my parents. A lot of people have asked me to teach them things like that. Well, you can't just plant a plant, put it out there and say "You just make it on your own." You have to take care of it. Like I've always said, when you bake bread, you can't run around on the street. You have to watch your bread because you never know when it's gonna rise and when you have to put it in the pan. 
I asked the oldtimers if, in their long lives, they remembered other situations where people predicted bad things that did not happen.Evelyn: I remember when I was a kid in school and my girlfriend, who was in my class, somebody had told her that the world was going to end and she cried all day. I told her "Oh no, don't cry because I don't think it's going to help." Annie: The onliest thing is they had this thing going years back about the world was going to end with fire and that kind of scared me. They always kept sayin' that when I was ten or twelve years old. I'm seventy-eight now. Robert: Certain families had different notions about things. My folks didn't speak a whole lot about it. They read about it. My daddy was originally from Germany as a young boy and he kept a German paper and sometimes he talked about reading in the German newspaper about the world ending...about the world would be engulfed in fire. Sometimes, when storms hit, you almost thought somethin'... Register: Here it comes, huh? (laughter) Robert: Right. We had some doozies. Leanda: For years and years, when we had those big floods on Cummins Creek, they always said that one of these days we were going to have such a big flood that it was going to come right up here into Round Top and wash us all away. Register: ...but it never happened? Leanda: No. That's the only scare I remember. They said we'd all be wiped away...all go down the drain. My daddy would always say "If that would ever happen, that Cummins Creek would come up into Round Top, then let it wash me away." All in all, the Round Top oldtimers were not too worried about the coming of the apocalypse. When I asked them what they thought would happen with the coming of the new millennium, they replied... Evelyn: When the 2000 year rolls around, I thinks it may roll in just like 1998 rolled into 1999...except we may have to change some digits somewhere along the line. Leanda: I don't know why it should change anything. We should just keep going on like we been going on. Robert: I don't think really anything is going to happen. Annie Banik, on the other hand, is not so sure. Annie: It worries me that when you go to the doctor, they got all the records for years back (on computers) and at the banks. You worry about that a lot. Years of experience has taught them to prepare for the worst. They offered the rest of us a little advice. Annie: My son Randall, he always says "Don't ever sell your land, because you won't ever be able to buy it back.” When you have land, you can always survive. Evelyn: People ought to think ahead about what they would do if something would happen... how they could survive themselves...get by. We used to travel on foot. We got by. In my younger days, there were no cars. People got by too. Lots of people don't want to walk anymore. Walkin' isn't bad for anybody as long as you can do it. The younger generation will get in a car and ride one block to get what they want. I don't feel that way. I feel like if you can walk a certain distance, you should do it. It's good exercise and it don't cause traffic congestions or whatever. I asked Evelyn about another time in her life when people thought the world might end, the Cuban missile crisis... Evelyn: I know everybody was scared but I didn't let it bother me because I always thought “the good Lord is going to do what he's got to do.” We couldn't stop it. I feel that way now. I always think, "He's watchin' over me. If something's gonna happen, it's gonna happen." ...will continue in the next issue of the Round Top Register. We’ll hear more about how to survive the Y2K apocalypse from Round Top oldtimers, including how to make bulk sauerkraut and how to smoke a ham. |
