EDITORIAL Y2K gateway to community
When disaster strikes, good
preparation often spells the difference between total catastrophe and lots of
smaller, separate problems, all of which can be addressed and solved. A good
plan under wise leadership can avert the deeper crisis lurking beneath the
storm, the fire or the flood -- which is a breakdown of community and the chaos
that follows.
It is thus in the preservation -- perhaps even the strengthening
-- of our sense of community that the Y2K phenomenon, the subject of this
weeks cover story, poses its most crucial challenge.
Y2K is unique among potential disasters. It may be all hype and no
substance, in which case every voice that cried alarm will be responsible for
what fear inflicts on the fragile social compact made all the more vulnerable
by our dependency on computers.
But not to address even the chance that temporary system failures
could cast us into darkness when all our chips and gadgets crash would be
irresponsible as well. The media especially bears an enormous responsibility to
provide reliable information on Y2K issues and not to dramatize or
commercialize peoples anxieties.
As we enter 1999, Y2K is amazingly still a breaking story. Any
informal survey suggests that things are probably not as bad as people fear but
not as good as wed like to believe. Government agencies and corporations
say they will be prepared, but evidence is that they got a late start and that
the chip replacement process is taking longer and costing more than anyone
anticipated.
If there are short-term but widespread disruptions of basic
services, they will likely occur as the coming calendar and fiscal years kick
in. We should know in a few months if we are looking at some devilish poetic
justice for our high-tech excesses or if we can expect business as usual into
the next millennium.
A faith perspective invites us to another possibility -- that just
being prudent in preparing for the worst might lead us to some deeper insights
about the proper role of our local churches.
In the event of any real crisis, will churches even be recognized
as natural gathering places, centers for help and leadership? Will churches be
the places where people turn to instinctively to find security, food, shelter
and some sense of solidarity? Providing such support would be daunting but not
impossible for an alert parish team.
But even aside from the logistics of crisis management, what if
Christian churches were at least prepared in terms of the gospel story of the
loaves and fishes? What if churches and faith groups collaborated to send the
message that if people share with everyone what they have set aside for
themselves, this will be miracle enough to insure that everyone is OK?
Imagine such a parish-wide theme offered in homilies and other
catechetical programs, then activated in time of need: Dont be
afraid, there is enough for everyone. All by itself this message could be
a powerful balm for people likely to be increasingly apprehensive as the
fateful date approaches.
Churches that already have small Christian communities now
operating within the parish have a head start toward tightening up the whole
network of relationships within neighborhoods and across cities.
If disruption is protracted and citywide, imagine the opportunity
if all churches, mosques and synagogues agree to head off any
enclave mentality or conflict between the different areas of town.
The poorest neighborhoods are likely to be hardest hit, and communities open to
sharing will benefit from inner-city skills in facing adversity. Many churches
have already lived through the end of the world on a regular
basis.
Imagine what middle-class churchgoers might learn about urban
survival from those homeless people who are regulars at the parish soup
kitchen. Those who have experienced major system failures before know how to
live without basic amenities.
What hope and wonder lies hidden in the thought that Y2K may
someday be remembered not as a disaster but as the moment we became the
communities of faith and love we have always professed to be.
National Catholic Reporter, January 8,
1999
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