As odd as it may seem, perhaps the best advice for dealing with Y2K came nearly 67 years ago. &uot;The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.&uot; Those words came from one of our greatest presidents – Franklin D. Roosevelt.

And although the audience at Roosevelt’s first inaugural address didn’t know what a computer was, let alone fear that a tiny, two-digit error could cripple the world, his words still ring true today.

While no one knows exactly what will happen tomorrow night when the clock strikes midnight, we believe our local, state and national leaders when they say that we should feel only a few effects of the computer bug.

The skeptical among us have concocted vast conspiracy theories about what may happen when the world is weakened by computer glitches.

We doubt the credibility of those stories.

More likely is that there may be some small inconveniences across America.

Sadly, in America our biggest fear isn’t computer-related at all. It’s the fear of what other humans may do to us.

Terrorists will, no doubt, take full advantage of the Y2K fears and the media attention it brings to inflict some horrible act in a vain attempt to bring attention to themselves and their cause.

In a way it’s ironic that decades after Roosevelt said those now-famous words about fear that our greatest threat comes not from a man-made machine, but from ourselves.

And as Roosevelt did at the beginning of World War II, we must face our enemies full-force and never let them defeat us by fear.