Someday, an historian will write the definitive study of the by-then long forgotten Y2K scare, drawing smiles from some about those quaint turn-of-the-century folks who worried needlessly about major worldwide disruptions. When that story is written, we hope it is presented as a triumph of global cooperation. That is the only accurate spin.
When Utah Sen. Robert Bennett began his dire warnings more than two years ago, he was talking about a very real danger — one that could have disrupted economies and communities. Today, after a peaceful New Year's weekend that featured only a few minor glitches, he may in retrospect seem like Chicken Little. In reality, he was more like Paul Revere.
At this point, it may be difficult to say whether terrible problems would have happened without the tremendous investments made by government and private business, but enough minor problems have occurred to illustrate what could have happened. And, certainly, more problems may yet occur as businesses go through their billing cycles.
However, whatever problems do pop up during the year, they aren't likely to disrupt much. The important enterprises — the banks, power companies and stock exchanges — carried on without a glitch. That was enough to inspire public confidence, an intangible commodity without which society cannot function. Anything Y2K-related that happens from now on can be dealt with minus a sense of panic. For that, people like Bennett and the many others who took the warnings seriously deserve thanks.
Lest the world forget about the Y2K era, there is a lesson to be learned. It is that one should be prepared for the worst while working hard to make sure the worst never happens. The doomsayers and survivalists got it only half right. They stockpiled supplies and retired to their compounds without offering support to those who were trying to fix the problem. Government and business officials at all levels, on the other hand, deserve thanks for handling the situation with professionalism and competence. Not only were there no major computer glitches, there were no New Year's attacks from terrorists.
In the end, many businesses and governments upgraded their equipment, and the United States cooperated with many other nations to improve readiness. Those are impressive results from something expected to be so bad. It was a nice way to start a year.