Posted Thursday, April 29, 1999

It's been a bizarre four weeks.

NATO, largely led by the U.S., decides to bomb Yugoslavia, in a strategy that many analysts suggested beforehand would be largely unsuccessful. U.S. and Russian officials trade sabre-rattling rhetoric, talk of re-targeting nuclear warheads, and exchange veiled threats regarding what they "might" do to enforce or resist an oil embargo on Yugoslavia, while at the same time seeking a diplomatic solution.

Our kids are killing each other, and everyone wants a quick answer as to why. In the midst of tragedy, some politicians seize the opportunity to further political agendas. In the wake of the media blitz covering the recent tragedy in Littleton, Colorado, we are inundated with a plague of "copycat" incidents (or attempts), in conjunction with various attempts to supress free speech, regulate the Internet (never mind what is available in your public library, thank you), and further mold our kids into uniformly bland "pod people."

The federal government and large numbers of corporations launch a media blitz to assure the public that the "Year 2000 problem" is not a big deal -- just be glad you don't live in one of those other countries. At the same time (roughly speaking), the Senate Committee on Y2K issues a report which is full of less-than-wonderful news on our progress in fixing this problem; President Clinton's Y2K "czar," John Koskinen (whom I took a small snipe at recently), issues some truly concerned comments about what sorts of problems may occur; and mainframe computer programmers with 20 to 30 years' enterprise-scale experience are quaking in their boots.

My niece, whose daughter just celebrated her first birthday, wonders what sort of world is in store and if we have all gone mad. I can't say as I blame her for wondering.

So, what's the point?

We are seeing an incredible convergence of scenarios, in some ways perhaps no worse than what we have survived in the past, in other ways different beyond our imagining. Perhaps we will "muddle through," as was said of the British during World War II; perhaps we will not.

My hope is that our leaders will respond to these challenges with intelligence and integrity. Please give the American people credit for the intelligence most of us possess (rather than dismissing us with facile rhetoric, sound bites, or political posturing). Please set an example for us (and our children) to follow. Please heed the Native American tradition of considering the outcome of your actions for seven generations, not till next Election Day.

Until our political leadership re-earns our trust, let us be skeptical, ask the hard questions, and make informed decisions based on all the information we can acquire rather than relying on media press releases.

At the same time, we individually need to take a hard look at issues relating to personal accountability and consequences, the kinds of values we teach our kids, and whether or not our public schools should be expected to raise our children for us.

If this sounds top-lofty or naive, well... it's been a bizarre four weeks.