The end of our year, decade, century and millennium has finally arrived. For years the doomsayers of our society have been looking to New Years Eve 1999 as a time when our computers will crash, household appliances will not function properly, banks will lose our money and our electricity will fail.

The Y2K bug has many people skeptical about this once-in-a-lifetime evening. A night that should be looked forward to with much anticipation and celebrated in a variety of ways has been reduced for some people to a night of waiting to see what happens'.

The Advocate printed a special section during the Fall on this phenomenon and we spoke to leaders of our local governments, banks and health care providers. The feedback we received from those interviewed was a bit redundant. All groups assured the public at that time that their computer systems were compliant for Y2K. Government officials said all offices would be up and running on Monday morning and bankers said that they had spent millions replacing systems.

Another problem that people have growing concerns about is electricity, but Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives has released information saying all of the state's electric co-ops have passed Y2K readiness testing. To be on the safe side, employees will be on standby all across Alabama in the event that something should happen according to Darryl Gates, a spokesman for the cooperatives.

As the last evening of this millennium nears we should celebrate the achievements accomplished during the past 1,000 years and not sink into a hole of doubt and dismay about our future.

Whatever you do the final moments of this year, remember that the people of this earth have survived much more during the past millennium than a computer glitch.