The End of the World As We Know It

 

May 21, 2011, is Saturday. Some say it will be the end of the world. I suppose I should panic like so many are doing, but frankly, I am a bit tired of hearing about when the end of the world is going to happen. Besides, there are others who call for the end October 21, 2011 and December 21, 2012. I find it a bit interesting that all three dates are on the 21st of the said month. Who comes up with this stuff anyway? Last week Rome was in a panic because they thought they were going to have a mega earthquake. I've lost count of the number of times in my lifetime that someone said the world would end on such and such a day, or that the Rapture would happen. In the late 60s Hal Lindsay made a killing with his books, Late Great Planet Earth and Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth. There were those who stood on mountains awaiting the Rapture---that didn't happen, obviously. Remember recently, the Y2K fiasco. You would think we lived in the Dark Ages when they thought the world would end during an eclipse. The Mayans have impacted our age with ending their calendar December 21, 2012. No one seems to consider that they just got tired of writing and were waiting until it got closer until they further updated their calendar. No, those doomsday people automatically assumed that if the calendar ends, so does the world. That is akin to saying that the world will end the 31st of December this year because that is when the calendar ends.

Nostradamus is a big name bandied about when talking prophecy, the problem is that no one can really understand exactly what he is talking about in those prophecies. Symbolism is a great way to go if you are a prophet, that way if the prediction doesn't pan out, you can just say the symbols were misinterpreted. I wonder what will be said when Saturday comes and goes and the world doesn't end.

I think that with all the natural disasters in the news lately, it makes people concerned that it is the beginning of the end. What with volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis it certainly appears that something is up. The issue I have with this end of the world talk is that it seems like people are looking for something to be afraid of. We don't need terrorism, we scare ourselves. Who gives credence to the doomsday prophet who seems to suck the gullible into their vortex? Is it really about popularity, money, or power?

Okay, let's say the world is really going to end Saturday. What can you do about it? Nothing. Think about this: What timezone is the world going to end in? Guam is a day ahead of New York. If they can set the day, why not also tell us the hour?

TS Eliot In "The Hallow Men" keeps going through my mind. You know,

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.