OK...this is a re-post, but with impending doom happening in just a few days, I thought it was worth a second look. Enjoy (while you still can)!Hold on to your hats folks…2012 ought to be one for the books! I expect this upcoming year to be one to remember. If history has taught us anything, it’s that nothing can spark the imagination quite like thought of the end of the world! Sure, we have all wondered what it would be like to be a rich and famous celebrity with an entourage which includes someone to walk behind us carrying our dog. But then we usually “snap” back to reality when we hear the bag boy ask…”paper or plastic?” Now then, you up the ante to the level of “end of the world” type of curiosity, and now we’re talking some serious imagining. Last year we had the religious group who was sure the end of the world was going to be on May 21st (to no avail) then the date was moved to October 21st. Of course nothing happened, and the group’s leader finally quit after realizing that maybe he really didn’t have God’s private, unlisted cell phone number, all the while leaving many followers disheartened and broke. See, since the end of the world was at hand, and you “couldn’t take it with you”, many believers spent their life savings on advertising and bill boards to get the word out across the country. Maybe for some, the end of the world really did happen, and it looks a lot like the same world we had before, except without money. Looking back, we have certainly had more than our share of “doom and gloomers” to go around, everyone from Nostradamus, Isaac Newton, The Millerites, The Branch Davidians to Marshall Applewhite’s Nike shoe wearing Heaven’s Gate crowd in Southern California, who believed it was a good idea to “cash it all in” and meet up with the gang in the UFO that was hidden behind the tail of the Hale Bop comet…or something like that. And of course, we can’t leave out the folks who believe that the earth is going come to a fiery end when it collides with “planet X” or Nibiru as it is also called. I know I am leaving out a lot of other happy folks who either had it, or currently have it all wrong about how and when the earth is going to end, but I think by now you get the point.
We
have all witnessed what happens when society gets something in its
collective mind about a particular date or event and its refusal to see
the forest for the trees. Do we really have to remember the madness
that ensued just before the whole Y2K drama unfolded into mass hysteria
of nothingness? I think I still have packages of ramen noodles and
batteries someplace in my garage left over from that one. And although
my computer did stop working in the year 2000, I think it had more to do
with dropping a cup of coffee on it than anything else. But skip ahead
to 2012 and we once again hear the banging drums about being prepared
for disaster! Oh no, not again? But wait, this time we have solid
proof…the Mayan calendar, right? It stops on December 21, 2012. This
has to be it; the moment we’ve all been waiting for…maybe.
Whether
you are upset that the world is coming to an end or that Desperate
Housewives is coming to an end, one thing is for certain; that for the
year 2012, the level of bizarre human behavior will be taken to some new
heights as we prepare for the end. Then, to add fuel to the fire, you
throw into the “mix” the fact that it is a presidential election
year…and all bets are off! It will certainly be interesting to watch as
the days go “clicking by” as the novelty of the “end of days” turns to
paranoia, then to panic by those who chose to believe that there is
written somewhere the actual date when our world does comes to an end.
All I know is that for every bad thing that happens this year, there
will be those who say…”see, it’s a sign, it’s getting closer…the end
times.” And sadly, as usual, there will be those cashing in on those
who believe it. And then again, there will be those who believe that
they can set off the “end times” by causing mayhem in the streets. Yes,
2012 is going to be quite a year to watch the news to see just how
crazy people can actually get. But in the end (which as we all know is
going to be on December 21st), we can blame the Maya… who
(just for the record) never said it was the end of times. However, like
Mark Twain said, “never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”
As for the Mayan calendar, sure it had to stop somewhere. And the Mayan
people, they did rather fade away into history. But my theory; the Maya
were also known as incredibly talented farmers, and sometimes as
farmers, we get tired of being so good at what we do and just need a
vacation. So, maybe, just maybe, they decided to stop making calendars
and stop farming altogether and just go on long, extended vacation
someplace. And when that fateful date arrives, as we are having “End of
The World” parties, and prophecy believers make final preparations for
the end, I think the Maya people (both past and present) will be having
the last laugh. Stay tuned…
P.S.
Did
you hear about the old Mayan Legend that says...that those who waited
for "the end" to order their California Navel Oranges missed out? It's
true, get them now before it's too late.
