I often enjoy the blurbs shared on the second page of the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN newspaper, which feature passages from historical SUN articles… 100 years ago… 75 years ago… 50 years ago…
This excerpt was from 25 years ago, taken from SUN files of December 23, 1999:
Ready or not, here comes Y2K.
Archuleta County held its final Y2K meeting of the year Tuesday, just 10 days before the possible appearance of the millennium-launching computer glitch that some say will bring civilization its knees.
Ready or not? Archuleta County says it is ready.
Starting at 10pm New Year’s Eve, county, town, utility employees and other key officials will be managing communication centers, ready to respond to any calls…
In Archuleta County, provisions have been made to provide food, water, warming stations, and medical services for county citizens.
If electricity goes off, School District 50 JT will open the doors of the junior high school to the public. The school is heated geothermally, has a kitchen, and has access to a community food bank. The town has provided a backup generator to ensure that the geothermal system at the school operates, even if the commercial electric system fails.
Hard to believe — but easy to appreciate — that our little town was so well prepared for something that didn’t happen.
I wonder if we are still ready for something that will not happen?
Like, for example, the End of the World?
The Y2K debacle came about because the world’s computer programmers had written programs without knowing exactly how they worked. So as the 20th century approached its conclusion, people started getting excited and worried — needlessly, as it turned out — based on the fear that computers worldwide would become confused by the number “2000” and would shut down, thereby bringing about the total collapse of civilization.
This naturally frightened a lot of people who thought civilization was a good thing.
When I talk about the End of the World, however, I’m referring to an event that would wipe out even uncivilized places, like Pagosa Springs.
I’m encouraged to know that, ten days before Y2K didn’t happen, our school district had been provided with a backup generator and had access to a community food bank. Most of us didn’t yet have smart phones in 1999, so I’m not sure why we needed the backup generator. But food is never a bad idea.
Now, in 2025, we would need the backup generator, to keep up with Tik Tok. (Unless President Trump fails to broker a deal, and it really goes away.) I’m assuming, of course, we brought along our charging adapters.
When I think deeply about the End of the World, it seems highly unlikely. Like, impossible. Practically speaking.
Sure, we could — with a well-managed nuclear war — wipe out every single human being on the planet. Men, women, children, even the non-binary people. If we aren’t in a hurry, we could accomplish the same thing with climate change. But it might take 100 years.
That’s technically not the same thing as the End of the World. That’s only the End of Homo Sapiens.
I’m fairly sure — and I think most scientists will back me on this — we would not be able to get rid of ants, cockroaches and rats.
Or viruses. I’ve tried many times to get rid of a virus, and nothing works.
That’s what I meant when I asked if we are still ready for something that will not happen. And we might also ask, are the cockroaches ready?
Why am I asking? You might very well ask, since we’re in the mood for asking questions. You might even suggest that — speaking logically — a person cannot possibly be ready for something that will not happen.
But we did exactly that, ten days before December 31, 1999, right here in Pagosa Springs. We were ready.
That’s why I love this town.
If only we could be ready for the things that actually are going to happen…