So now that we have filed the,
'' World will end on December 21, 2012 and many people will believe it and it actually didn't happen, but that does not matter. When is the next date of the end of the world?'', in the cabinet. I figured it would be a good time to analyze what exactly it is about us that makes us so obsessed by our own demise. More importantly though; how we are so easily persuaded into believing something is real. As in the picture beside this text i am about to get swallowed for dinner by my friend T-Rex. What you don't believe me? Why not? The picture is clear, that's me obviously. That is a dinosaur. Obviously. He looks rather vicious, rather pissed off and mighty hungry. So why don't you believe that i am about to be Rex's next meal? What makes it so much easier to believe that someone interpreted a calendar (well many people did and no one could arrive at a consensus) and then went on to predict the end of the world on December 21, 2012. What is the difference between believing the end of the world and me being T-Rex's, T-Bone? After much consideration, OK not really, after two beers i think i might have come up with the answer and it was actually my 16 year old son who led me to the idea.
On his facebook page on December 14, 2012 just after the Newtown elementary school shooting he posted this on his facebook page. I did not edit this and there is some minor language so be advised, it read,
''It utterly disgusts me what some people do in this world. This shooting in Connecticut is probably the event that may make us realize that we don't deserve to be going past December 21st because of the shit that might just happen within the next week. The fact of taking the lives of an estimated 27 children, not to mention that they were in elementary school, is just disgusting. This same man also killed his father and I think he also did the same to his mother who worked at the school, from my understanding. My biggest question is: Why did he do this? Was it for revenge, pure pleasure, or was he told to do it? Who know! As some people quoted "He took the cowards way out." which, I'm sure we all know means killing himself. If this sick individual really just did this to kill himself, why go through the trouble to make the lives of 27 families miserable, especially just before the holiday season? This kind of shit really should make us think of who's close to us and not take for granted what is given to us easily. To finish this off, I give my condolences to those that were lost''. Keep in mind this is a Grade 11 student (honor) writing this. What struck me and caught my attention was the section I underlined and put in bold. For it was here that i think i might have found why it is so much easier to believe in mankind's eventual end then the reemergence of the dinosaur. I believe it lies simply in the fact that no matter how ignorant, disconnected, un-interested, self indulgent and self centered we might happen to be; none of us can completely deny the fact that as a species, as a society, we have come up big time short in all areas.
The foundation is simple. We know there are problems, challenges and major issues out there, yet we choose to collectively agree to pretend they are not there or simply believe that someone else will fix them. I am convinced however based on what I wrote at the end of the last paragraph that we actually know that we have done very little to make things better or to fix what we knew needed fixing. The reason? Not a clue! Maybe due to the fact that we don't want to put in the effort, to indulge in the exercise required to actually change the things that do not work. Selfishness? Perhaps. Laziness? Almost certainly. But i have a better one. ''Our own reality''. You see, if what I have identified does not interfere or disrupt your reality then there is absolutely no reason to act. We all live in a very small circle. That circle is filled with family, friends, work and responsibilities. It goes literally no further then that. No larger then that. So when we look at the challenges outside the circle it is much easier to dismiss them as someone else's issue or problem. That is until a central object of focus comes into view that fixes our view on the truly bigger picture, '' we are spinning around in a vast infinite space and we really have no idea how we got here, where were going, and more importantly how it ends''.
You see my friends, everyone knows they have an end, but we very rarely consider a collective end. What if as in the television show, ''life after people'' we did actually all go at the same time and leave everything behind. Leave this world and take nothing with us. Simply leave behind only monuments that will as demonstrated in the show; rot, crumble, dissolve and disappear over time leaving little if any trace that we were ever here in the first place. I do believe many of us actually do believe that this is what might happen and in a deeper darkness hopes will. For centuries now, mankind has been captured and absorbed in how it will end. Hollywood, books and the media have made billions on our obsession with it. There are so many ways it has been predicted. It has come from us, from alien worlds, from natural disasters to diseases. The common denominator has always been the END! The end as we know it now, our way of life, the values, the ideologies and the familiar. It is, as is always the case in Hollywood, ultimately averted or saved at the last 5 minutes of the film. But what if it was not. What if it actually ended? Done. No more tomorrow, no more next weekend, no more talk (or text ) you later. Just finished. I think this is what puts many of us, ''all in'' on the idea that the World could actually end at any given time and that there is very, very little we can or could do about it. I think this is what holds our attention and what makes us buy into the idea that it just might be a predetermined date regardless of where the information originated from or how accurate it might be.
This is, in reality, the none reality. It doesn't have to be accurate. It just has to feed our deep down knowledge and fear that it could in fact happen, will most probably happen. When? No one really knows. Scientists believe that our sun is good for another 5 billion (yes billion) years so that's not exactly an event that will mark the end for humanity in the very near future.So what is there to be afraid of? Or to be obsessed with, as it relates to the end of our world as we know it? Well there are plenty of things which could happen. The reality though is if you remove the chance of an Alien invasion, a stray asteroid, or an epic meltdown (natural causes) then you start to understand that the end of our existence will most probably come from..............well, us! Yes indeed, and that is why we are so obsessed with fictional ends of the world. You see as easy as it is to believe that someone else will fix all of our challenges and issues it is just as easy to believe that someone else or something else other then US will be responsible for our extinction. The fact is we will either destroy each other (war), or we will poison ourselves (environment) or we will die from super diseases (created by us). The sad fact is it will not be instantaneous, it won't be, ''BANG'' its over. No it will most certainly be long, painful and brutal!
Do not fear though, there is nothing you can do about it. Remember we are not responsible for anything other then our own reality, our own circle. Oh! and just in case you need something to focus on to blind you to the reality of our world; you can grab on to this. It seems the geniuses interpreting the Mayan calendar realized that they made a mistake in calculating the end of the world. It was actually one year later then they originally thought. It is December 21, 2013, not 2012. So i guess I'll talk to you again on December 22nd.
Rob
