 "Photo: Anthony Salinas")
The world is coming to an end. Dive into your bomb shelters, stock up on all the canned food you can get your hands on, leave large cities, and seclude yourself into the middle of nowhere to ride out until 2012.
Or you could go about your lives in normalcy, or in whatever sense the word ‘normal’ applies. Because in my opinion the world will not end Dec. 21, 2012, it will end a long, long time from now when the world least expects it and I am long gone.
The recent earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Taiwan (as of this morning) have stirred up discussions of ‘Judgment Day’, ‘The End,’ and ‘2012’. But from what I know about history, earthquakes are called a natural disaster for a reason. It’s not like it’s the first time there has been one earthquake close to another. In the 1970s there were seven earthquakes throughout the decade, two each in 1970 and 1976. These where also in separate parts of the world ranging from South American to the Middle East to China.
The 2012 hype has also been exaggerated lately by pessimist/director Roland Emmerich, who is responsible for such doomsday films as “Independence Day,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and the recent instigator, “2012.”
The recent movie bases its ‘end of the world’ theme on the Mayan belief that history consists of five ages with each age ending in disaster. According to the Maya we are currently in the fifth and final year of their calendar and the last day is 12/21/2012, when the world will supposedly end due to disastrous earthquakes.
Doomsday theorists are responsible for countless Internet rumors, books, and videos, all saying 2012 is the day for humankind. And surprisingly a lot of people are taking things way seriously. A Belgian man quit his job and is currently in the midst of several vacations he’s planned, before the world implodes. His advice for everyone is to do the same.
The Mayan theory isn’t the only one circulating; there are also Biblical theories and references to natural disasters, particularly earthquakes, which are getting people in a tizzy. But if you want to believe 2012 in a biblical sense, than remember Matthew 24:36: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
And I’m pretty sure that God didn’t let the Mayans in on the big secret, with all their polytheistic human sacrifices and such.
But for me, I am fully expecting Dec. 21, 2012 to come…as well as Dec. 22 and the 23rd and to keep going and going. The hoopla about it is getting kind of annoying; I’m getting annoyed just by writing this. But this isn’t the first time an apocalyptic phenomenon has been predicted. In the wake of the new millennium, Y2K was all the rage, and in the year 999 it was believed by many that Jesus Christ would return for Judgment Day in 1000 A.D., which obviously didn’t happen.
So for most reasonable people it comes down to what you believe. I believe it will be a very long time till the world is offed by our Creator. Some believe aliens will appear one day and save a few from our dying planet, others believe man will just keeping going and going until we can’t go anymore.
But all I know is 2012 might be perfect for our economy right now. I predict a rather large spike in consumer activity due to ferocious last-minute spending, especially around Christmas time. Or who knows, desperation shopping might just be a huge overstatement (and que R.E.M.).
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