The night of New Year’s Eve 1999 was a night this world will never forget. The weeks leading up to it were filled with dread and unparalleled fear. Many thought it was the end of the world and were desperately trying to prepare for what was essentially doomsday. Y2K—a shorthand for the year 2000—was a source of panic for many, yet the genuine fear that came with the turn of the millennium is often overshadowed by the nostalgia for this beloved time period. While it may be looked at through the lens of the past as somewhat of a joke, the fear and panic that millions felt was anything but. 

The fear was due to the computer bugs, known as millennium bugs, which many believed were a serious threat to all levels of society. The story goes that at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1999, the entire internet was supposed to crash. Computers would fail and systems of all kinds would go with them—think medical facilities, financial records, government, military facilities and more. 

Computers were only programmed to serve dates up until the year 2000. Time Magazine explained that “many system programmers set aside only two digits to denote the year in dates, as in 06/15/98 rather than 06/15/1998.” Because of this, when the clock struck midnight on the night of Dec. 31, 1999, people believed the computer systems wouldn’t be able to function and would crash worldwide. 

Fallout shelters were built. Survival boot camps thrived and hundreds of thousands of people stocked up on household items out of fear they would be on lockdown for years. At the same time, many people went about their business as usual. They bought party streamers, watched the ball drop and hoped for the best. Then, 12:00 a.m. came and went. People prepared for the worst, but the so-called apocalypse never came. Everyone returned to work and school and laughed it off with their friends. 25 years later, we laugh at them, too. Though, we have no room to judge. The fear of the end of the world is rife within all of us—it’s what makes us human. 

We are a species with an innate desire to survive. Because of this, nothing brings us closer together than when survival is threatened. The idea of doomsday is not new. Generation after generation, we have been faced with the fear of the end of the world. Facing a definite end is scary, and it’s something that has been threatened against us as a human race time and time again. Our fear of doomsday is intrinsically linked to our fear of being forgotten. With the threat of an apocalypse comes the threat of humanity as a whole ceasing to exist. Whether it be natural disasters, war, disease or something else entirely, it can only be assumed these fears would cause a rift within society. And while they often do, it is not in the way one might think. 

Humans come together in times of change. This is a simple fact of life. We panic together, we cry together and we fight together. In 2020, facing the imminent threat of survival during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was widespread panic. Grocery stores sold out of toilet paper, customers fought over items in stores, healthcare workers were overwhelmed and the entire world was put on pause. It was essentially an apocalypse. And while normally, in such an event, many people would choose to think “every man for himself,” something interesting happened. People helped people. We leaned on each other, found our communities and all worked together to get through the pandemic. There were exceptions, of course, but for the most part, the inability to be together brought humans together closer than ever before. While it was a tragic event, and the feeling of hopelessness we faced as a generation is unfound within the history books, one thing was clear: we came out the other side. 

For many people, these sort of life-or-death situations feel hopeless. Why fight to survive if we are all going to die in the end? In times of tragedy, it can be hard to see through to the other side. Tragedy is a time of transition. It’s a time in which the future is the big unknown, and all we can do is hope for the best. 

Smaller events feel world-ending to people as well. It’s not just large historical events that cause panic, but rather smaller, everyday occurrences too. Hurricanes, floods, tornados and all other natural disasters destroy life as we know it each day for people around the globe. Mass casualty events and attacks do, too. Even heartbreak can cause feelings of impending doom and hopelessness. These things may not threaten an apocalypse, but they certainly threaten something, and that in itself is enough to lead to panic.

It’s normal to feel panic in the face of tragedy. It’s expected even. When things go badly, we have a hard time remaining calm. It makes total sense, yet we still view it as a bad thing. According to The Guardian, it’s hard for us to imagine a world where humanity no longer exists. For many, the thought of the end of the world reminds us that nothing is permanent. There is no guarantee that we will be remembered after our lifetime. The only real way to change things is to address the worries we have head-on, because “we have much more to fear than fear itself.” Despite this panic, though, we must be able to acknowledge our fears for what they are. That is the only way that we can move on from them. The good news is, the panic is universal. It’s comfortable. It’s what we do when there is nothing left to do. 

Time and time again, we have prepared for the world to end. Nostradumus’ predictions brought panic to generations, the Black Death massacred an entire population of people, wars raged, the Spanish Flu ravaged nations, ancient calendars ended and still, we have persevered. The reason for that is humans themselves. It is within our nature to protect ourselves, and to persevere. And yet, in the face of tragedy, we cling to each other for dear life. We hold our communities close and we build each other back up, piece by piece, until we are whole again. That is the way the world works. 

When the streamers all fell and the party was over, the glitter-covered floors were all that remained of New Year’s Eve 1999. The panic came and went when the clock struck midnight. Now, all that remains is a memory. 

Some day the world will end. Life as we know it will cease to exist, and everything we’ve built will be for naught. But today is not that day. So hold your people tight, and don’t let go. Cling to what you have and work for a better future—a future that will be able to withstand the test of time. 

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