The End of the World ***

People are obsessed with the “End of the World”. One friend, who sends me daily doses of inspiring and other mushy stuff, recently joined the fray. He talked about the imminent end of the human race. Although it wasn’t clear whether he meant it, or was just pitching for the upcoming movie, he had quoted a lot of “facts”.

One key argument put forward is that the Mayans, who were known for their accurate astronomical calculations, had predicted that the end of the world would come in 2012. (actually this is a conjecture, based on the fact that the Mayan “long calendar” ends in 2012).

If that is not bad enough, we have scientists, talking about Sun storms, which have been acting up of late, and predicted to reach a deadly peak sometime in 2012. Other scientists have been doing their bit, to push us nearer to the brink. Some have been hard at work building the atom smasher, a 27 km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the universe tick. In the process, they are likely to create a few mini black holes, which despite their somewhat innocent sounding name, can reduce our world and some nearby planets to a super-dense blob the size of a coconut. Then we have the Bible toters. Of course, if we look close enough, the Bible can be used to justify anything at all.

I found that some people are taking all these quite seriously. In a website “Survive 2012”, this guy, Rob explains why. He says, as a human, he likes humans, and does not want them to be wiped out. He wants to help some to prepare, and survive.

Then there is Patrick Geryl. Patrick was on a diet of fruit and vegetables, believing this would make him live long. But he soon discovered the futility of this strategy. The end was near. I wonder if he reverted to enjoying meat and seafood for what he probably believes to be his remaining few years.

Meanwhile, Patrick is busy forming a survival group. Although he has an email ID, he strictly instructs us to only email him in case of importance!
”There is really no time for discussions or answering all pro and contra comments...” he says.

Well, in the context of things as they stand, we don’t know why creation happened in the first place. So what if it is wiped out ? Unless its going to create some bottlenecks at the pearly gates. And congestion at Heaven. And Hell too I guess.

But then, if the process is going to be long drawn out, or painful and full of suffering, or if its going to leave a small group grappling with the mess in its aftermath: now that’s worrying. Especially if I am going to be one of the survivors clearing up.