Thursday, December 20, 2012

About the Impending Apocalypse

My guy and I have been joking about the latest doomsday prediction, which is supposed to happen tomorrow. Things like, Better wash the dogs, the world's ending on Friday or Armageddon is almost here, have you paid the bills? It's not that we mean to disrespect those who are putting faith in this theory, it's just that we've been through several supposed Apocalypses already (1975, 1982, 1994, 1997, Y2K, Harold Camping X 2, etc.) and after so many letdowns it's getting rather tough to work up the proper amount of terror. Also, given what the actual Mayan are saying, this is a little like believing the world will end every January 1st when we throw out last year's calendars.

Could the world end tomorrow? Sure. Life is a cycle with a beginning and an end, and you and me and this planet are not exempt from that truth. The world could end today. It could end in the next ten minutes, too. Wouldn't that be a surprise?

Frankly I don't think much about the world ending. Mostly I think about right now and the day ahead of me. It's twenty minutes to eight on Wednesday morning. Tonight we're having guests for a holiday dinner, so the future I'm concerned with is making them a good meal that they'll enjoy and remember with pleasure. I'm hoping the world won't end before I serve dessert, because I have a pretty spectacular one planned.

If weather permits we'll probably have a fire outside, too, so we can gather around it after dinner to roast marshmallows and drink hot cocoa and talk. This is how we make merry during the holidays, spending time with friends and family, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Even if I knew the world would end on Friday.

Worrying about things that may or may not happen is human nature, I guess. Fear and darkness and dread are always there, hoping to get into our hearts and poison our lives and steal from us the opportunities we have to know happiness and peace. From my POV I can't do anything to stop the world from ending, and I know I'm not going to live forever, so it seems pointless to dwell on it. I'd much rather spend my time here making good memories and enjoying the blessings in my life. Whenever the time comes for me to move on to the next place, which it will whether I go alone or with the rest of the world, I can leave knowing I didn't waste my time here being afraid of it.

10 comments:

  1. The National Weather Service had this as one of their warnings today: "A powerful system continues to bring significant, widespread impacts in the form of blizzard conditions, severe thunderstorms, damaging winds and fire weather conditions to the central United States."

    I read that and about sputtered my drink all over my keyboard. I swear, somebody must have done that just to feed the zombie apocalypse trolls...

    Sure, I've seen fire weather and high wind and severe thunderstorms all together, that's almost normal here... but how, pray tell, are they going to manage FIRE and BLIZZARD conditions at the same freaking time?

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  2. Fran K7:38 AM

    I'm with you on this one, Lynn. If the end of the world is coming, I don't want to know about it in advance. I'd much rather continue on living while I can, that way I can't have any regrets about things done or not done when the end comes.

    That's not to say I didn't really enjoy Jessica Andersen's Final Prophecy series of books though because they were great!

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  3. Ren Benton9:38 AM

    I'm blessed with the combination of pessimism and imagination. Give me 30 seconds, and I'll tell you 30 ways something as innocuous as trimming a hangnail can lead to gruesome death. My near-and-dear have been known to refer to me as Worst-Case Renario.

    And yet END OF THE WORLD WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE predictions invariably get no more than an eyeroll from me. If *I* think a proclamation of doom is silly, there's no need to reschedule your appointments to accommodate the apocalypse.

    But do be careful with those hangnails...

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  4. I'm pretty tired of apocalyptic yammering. I've been told the world would end any time since I was a child (thanks for the message of hope, church!) and amazingly it's still here, so am I, and the business of life (laundry, dishes, doctor appointments) goes on and there are books to finish and I'll be goddamned if any of mine add to the apocalyptic wingnut brigade. And now, back to trying to find a book for my advanced reader that DOESN'T tell her the world is blowing up in one form or another before she even gets a chance to play with it.

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  5. Anne V.10:09 AM

    Shawna: I'm in the dusty far West-you can indeed set things on fire here while being justified in worrying about blizzard conditions. ^_^

    I believe that it will be a big surprise when the world ends-you can't predict that stuff. Just enjoy your life while you have it. You could also drop dead at your desk, or get hit by a bus when you step outside. The last two are the ones that I actually do worry about.

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  6. I think acknowledging the shadow is out there helps me focus and enjoy the wonderful things I have right now. Yep, its there, nope, not gonna ruin the taste of the apple cherry crumble I baked last night.

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  7. I'm always so puzzled by the folks that want it to be The End. Why? Instead of seeing the beauty of our world, they would rather live with dread and doom? Humans...

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  8. I don't believe the world is coming to an end either. But I confess to re-reading Arthur C. Clarke's The Nine Billion Names of God just in case I'm wrong.

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  9. Well, it's 9:37 eastern time and New Zealand is still there, so I'm pretty sure the End Of The World isn't happening right now. I'd almost managed to forget the whole thing except the Zombie next door came by to borrow a cup of sugar...

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  10. Embrace the blessing of life with its challenges and opportunities. amen.

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