Millennium Anxiety

• In Washington the Social Security Administration sent out letters to 32,000 people bearing the news that certain benefits would end on January 1, 1900.
• In Philadelphia 500 people received notices telling them to show up for jury duty in January 1900.
• In Maine automobile registrations sent by computer for new cars in the model year 2000 contained the words "Horseless Carriage." The practice in Maine is for all cars manufactured before 1916 to have these words on their license.

Although the actual problems have been few and mostly trivial, many are anxious about what the New Year may bring:

• In August the President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion reported that only thirty seven percent of the Nation's 911 Emergency Call Centers are ready for January 2000.
• In September a Navy report predicted "probable" or "likely" failures in electrical and water systems for several American cities.
• In November a Senate report said that the failure of other countries to fix their Year 2000 computer problems could cause global disruptions that may create the potential for higher energy prices, supply shortages and even an economic downturn.
• In December the Energy Department announced that New Year's Eve, the Emergency Operations Center in the basement of the Energy Department's headquarters will be in close contact with the Crisis Center at the Atomic Energy Ministry's headquarters in Moscow. The fear is that computer troubles in Russia would cause an interruption in the electrical grids that supply the Russian nuclear plants, or that computers inside the Russian nuclear plants will fail.

The American Red Cross recommends that we should:

• Stock disaster supplies to last several days.
• Gather extra blankets, coats, hats and gloves to keep warm.
• Buy plenty of flashlights and extra batteries.
• And the Red Cross says that we should be prepared to move to a shelter for protection during a prolonged power outage.

Meanwhile, as the Third Millennium approaches, Conservative Christian authors Tim La Haye and Jerry Jenkins have sold more than ten million books on the theme that Jesus will soon return to Earth. The books feature a group of people called the Tribulation Force. In the stories wives, husbands, sons, daughters and friends of the Tribulation Force have vanished into thin air, as evidenced by piles of clothing, jewelry and other personal effects. Members of the Force realize that the prophesied Rapture has occurred and that they have been "left behind" because they did not accept Jesus as their savior.

In the stories, after committing their lives to Christ, the Tribulation Force tries to win over others during a seven-year period called the Tribulation. They also fight the forces of the Antichrist and endure the horrible wars, plagues and desolation prophesied in the Book of Revelation. The stories end with the battle of Armageddon, which concludes the period of Tribulation and marks the Second Coming of Jesus. The books are so successful, their sales are in the same league as secular blockbuster writers Danielle Steel, Michael Crichton and John Grisham.

A survey conducted by U.S. News, showed that the belief in the end of time is widespread in America.

• Fifty-eight percent believe the world will be destroyed in a few years.
• Forty-nine percent believe that an Antichrist will lead the forces of evil.
• Fifty percent believe that Jesus will return to earth.
• Forty-four percent believe a final battle of Armageddon will occur.
• Fifty-two percent believe that God will punish the wicked and save the faithful.

Across the globe are pockets of people gathering to await the last days, when God will reward the good and punish the sinners. In Israel this past week police detained twenty people who had settled near the Mount of Olives in hopes of witnessing Christ's return on January 1, 2000. This is the third time this year Israeli police have acted against groups who are predicting Christ's return. Officials are concerned a handful of people may use violence to try to hasten Christ's return. The Israelis fear that on January 1, 2000 members of these groups will try to destroy the mosques on Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

Now it is possible a major disaster will occur on January 1, 2000. It is possible that airplanes will plummet from the sky, that power grids and communication systems will shut down, that gas pumps will refuse to deliver fuel, that supermarket scanners will fail, and the moment the ball falls at Times Square TV screens will go dark on Dick Clark. It is even possible that Jesus will appear on earth. However, it is highly unlikely that these events will occur. Almost anything is possible, but most things are not probable.

I wonder, as I watch the disaster movies about computer failures, as I watch clergy predict the rapture and survivalists stockpile freeze-dried food, what is the source of this apprehension? Why is the idea of Armageddon a perennial theme in Western history? What is the function of this anxiety at the end of the Twentieth Century?

Before his death three years ago, a Bethesda Rabbi named Ed Friedman wrote that in his experience many people in our society suffered from chronic anxiety. For him, many issues in our culture were symptoms of this chronic anxiety. Rabbi Friedman wrote:

If, for example, we succeed in reducing the number of cigarettes smoked by our Nation's youth but do nothing to reduce the level of chronic anxiety throughout the Nation, then the addiction will just take another form, and the same children who were vulnerable to one kind of addiction will become easy prey for the as-yet unimagined new temptation.⁽¹⁾

I suspect that if Rabbi Friedman were alive today, he would say that millennium anxiety is a symptom of the chronic anxiety in our culture. A few years ago he wrote:

For the past few decades there has been a noticeable decrease in the size of most mainline Protestant churches with a concomitant increase in the populations of fundamentalist institutions. Nothing in American life betrays more the desire for certainty . . . Magical thinking is the natural offspring of chronic anxiety.⁽²⁾

"Chronic anxiety," wrote Rabbi Friedman, "has always been an aspect of human society. From generation to generation chronic anxiety has been past down in families from parent to child. Now, however,

. . . because our technologically advanced society constantly keeps us in often-simultaneous touch with one another it may be more difficult today not to become caught up in the surrounding systemic anxiety.⁽⁴⁾

In movies, television, newspapers, and now the Internet, the media often reflects back to people their anxiety. Thus I would rename the popular prime time programs "Dateline," and "20/20." A more accurate title for these news magazines would be "Things to Worry About" and the sequel "More Things to Worry About," for this is the theme night after night.

Now, if you are not part of the fifty percent of our society who is anxious about either the Y2K problem or the tribulation, I would like to share some other common anxieties from the book How to Make Yourself Miserable.⁽⁵⁾ For example, during the December holiday season many of us are inviting others over for meals or parties:

• Worry that nobody you invited will come, that there will be too little food, that there will be too much food, that they will not like the food, that nobody will mix, that they will break your good glassware, that they will spill things on the carpet, that they will steal something, or that they will step on your dog or cat or child.
• If you are invited to someone else's house, worry that you will not remember the names of people you have met before, that people you have met before will not remember your name, that nobody will talk to you, that you will spill something or break something, that you will not like what they are serving or you will be allergic to it. You will either have to insult the host by not eating it or else eat it and be sick afterwards.
• Later in the evening, if you are at someone else's house, alternate between thinking that they wish you had left already, or that they will be terribly hurt, if you leave so soon. If you are the host, when a couple says it is time they were going -- even if it is possible they are saying this in hopes that you will coax them to stay -- fear that they want to leave because they are bored and do not coax them to stay.

If you are planning to take a vacation this holiday season, when you are away:

• Picture the door you probably forgot to lock and all the people who have wandered into your living room.
• Picture the faucet you probably forgot to turn off and the water as it cascades over the sides of the sink or tub, seeping out into the rest of the house, drowning your carpets, then your furniture, then your clothes, and finally bursting out of your windows and onto the street.
• Picture the lights or the stove you probably forgot to turn off, the overheating of electrical circuits or the build-up of gas, and the inevitable flaming holocaust and explosion.
• Picture the place you work and everything going to hell in your absence.
• Picture the place you work and everything going more smoothly than ever in your absence.

When buying a Christmas gift for somebody, worry about the following:

• They already have one.
• Not only do they already have one, but they hate it.
• The gift they are getting me will be much more expensive and mine will look cheap next to theirs.
• They are not getting me anything at all.
• They are getting me something I already have, or something I hate, and when I go to the store to return it I will run into them at the exchange counter.

Of course, we can escape the anxiety of modern society by running away and hiding. The far more difficult task is not to escape but to try to be present and non anxious simultaneously. Rabbi Friedman taught that for all human communities, whether families, religious communities, work communities, or the larger political communities of our country, a universal problem is preserving our individual integrity, while remaining connected to others. The more chronically anxious we are, the more difficult it is to stay connected with others while preserving our integrity. Friedman wrote that spiritually healthy persons have clarity about their life goals. Therefore, they are less likely to become lost in the anxious emotional processes swirling around them. Emotionally healthy persons can separate from others while still remaining connected. Therefore they can remain calm and think clearly. Healthy persons can manage their own reactions to the anxiety in others. Therefore, they can maintain a non anxious presence.

Personally, I do not find it easy to be a non anxious presence. The only completely non anxious people I know are no longer alive. However, I do believe that Rabbi Friedman was on to something very important here. Therefore, I am trying to improve my own capacity to remain non anxious in the midst of the emotional storms around me. I work on separating my emotional being from that of those around me, while still remaining connected with them.

• I am less anxious when instead of impulsively reacting to others, I separate myself from the surrounding emotional climate and take responsibility for clearly defining the principles, the values, the goals that give direction to my life.
• I am less anxious when, instead of blaming others, I work on understanding my own accountability in every situation.
• I am less anxious when, instead of taking responsibility for the relationships and problems of others, I focus on taking responsibility for myself, and my own continual growth and maturity.
• I am less anxious when I remember that in keeping with the nature of spirituality, others cannot plant peace of mind in me from the outside. It can only grow when I nurture it within myself.
• I am less anxious when I remind myself that we cannot resolve most crises; we must simply manage them until they work their way through. In the words of the serenity prayer "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference." This puts my focus on self-regulation instead of frantically seeking to "fix" things.
• I am less anxious when instead of trying to avoid mistakes, I remind myself that life is an exciting adventure, and that mistakes are human.
• I am less anxious when instead of looking for certainty, I accept that life is uncertain.
• I am less anxious, I am better able to handle the natural tension between individuality and togetherness when I have a sense of where I begin and where others end.

These are skills I try to cultivate in myself in hopes that they will make me a better husband, father and minister. And there is one more. I find that I am less anxious when I can maintain a playfulness and a sense of humor. In the words of Charlie Chaplin: "Through humor, I see in what seems rational, the irrational; in what seems important, the unimportant." To preserve my sanity, I find myself laughing at the millennium anxieties of our time.

Unfortunately, in my experience people who have focused their chronic anxiety on the millennium do not possess a sense of humor. They are not likely to appreciate the poem "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost, in which he speculates about the end of the world. I end with it today.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

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