The End of the World as We Know it?

So according to certain “scholars” the world is going to end tomorrow. Or, I guess more accurately, in about 6 ½ hours (give or take a few micro-seconds). But the six some odd hour’s thing is just a guess since the Mayans did not actually say when on the 21st the world was actually going to end.

Now don’t get wrong here, I am not thumbing my nose at the Mayans or the scholars who “deciphered” the calendar that suddenly stops on the 21st of the 12th 2012. I will have to admit that I don’t care enough to spend too much time searching the net for additional references to the day the world ends. I probably should though just to be on the safe side.

I don’t want to wake tomorrow morning and waste my time being superior and doing the “See! I told you this was a load of bull pucky;” only to have everything blow up in my face at noon or twelve midnight of the 21st of December.

I know that they came up with this really awesome calendar and that’s great! But do we really think that a race of people who practised human sacrifice could predict the end of the world? Really?

If these ancient Mayan’s were so clever, why did their civilization collapse? Oh sure, a 200 year drought may have had something to do with it, but, they also could have been overthrown by folks who did not fancy being the latest sacrifice to the Gods they worshipped.

In fact, if I have the “facts” straight, their wonderful calendar does not “state” that the world will end on the 21st. It just does not go beyond that date. There could be a lot of different reasons for this.

  1. They could have gotten tired doing all that etching in stone and laid down for a rest. While they were resting, the civilization collapsed and no one cared about finishing the calendar.
  2. Maybe the royal Mayan calendar maker died (or was sacrificed) and they could not find another one.
  3. They might just have gotten bored. After all some new neighbours might have moved in next door and they needed to make them feel welcome.
  4. Last, but not least, perhaps they lost their version of the Abacus they were using and they didn’t have enough fingers and toes to finish the calendar.

But seriously why does anyone believe that an ancient civilization could tell when the world was going to end. I’m pretty sure that the lack of dates past a certain time does not indicate the end of time or dates.

Folks have been saying that the world’s going to end a lot. Okay, most of these folks are religious cranks that usually belong to a cult and believe that angels are going to descend in a space ship and take them to heaven. Of course not all cults believe this, some just think they need to be at a certain place or they’re going to miss the “heaven” train.

Talking to a bank teller today, the subject of the world ending tomorrow came up. “Well, if the world’s ending tomorrow, I’d better wish you a happy Christmas now.” He was laughing when he said it. After we finished laughing at his funny remark I wondered if I still needed to send out Christmas cards this year. I could always send them late with the excuse that I wanted to save money on the postage, especially if the cards would never get there anyway.

But on a different note altogether, I saw somewhere that it was being predicted that the world wasn’t going to end tomorrow, but that all things electrical would cease functioning for three days.

What?

I’m still not sure where this one came from, except I know for sure that it would not have been from the Mayans. Unless of course they really were that advanced and had written on their calendar that electricity would not only be invented, but, that it would be down world-wide for three whole days starting on the 21st.

Now that would be impressive. Not enough for me to believe it, but enough for me to give the Mayan’s more credit for telling the future than I have so far.

Still, if by some chance they were right, I’ll never know and that is how it should be. If we all knew when world was going to end I believe that we would all be a pretty miserable lot.

But if you don’t hear from me after tomorrow…

 

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Author: Michael Knox-Smith

Former Actor, Former Writer, Former Journalist, USAF Veteran, Former Member Nevada Film Critics Society (As Michael Smith)

35 thoughts on “The End of the World as We Know it?”

  2. Pingback: Super Sweet Blogging Award | Sunday Night Blog

  4. I see you have one already but nevertheless I have nominated you for my own Super Sweet Blogging Award. I am passing out treats this Sunday Afternoon over at my place.

  7. I have always wanted to see the Mayan ruins (as well as the Aztec’s) I’m green with envy! But yes, as a child who attended Sunday School on a pretty regular basis, the Bible does say that no man will know. Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Peace out! 😀

  8. I visited the Mayan archaelogical site at Cahal Pech near san ignacio, Belize on December 14th and all looked good to be there for a lot more days. A friend that was on the mission trip with me and I crafted a fictional serial to expalin the Mayn Calendar Inaccuracy. It was all for fun. As the bible tells us in Mark 13: 31-33, no man knows, only the Father Himself!

  16. Pingback: December 21, 2012: Your Last Chance To Dance « rsmithing

  17. Cool post, Mike. Although I have to say: the afterworld looks an awfully lot like our previous one did.

  19. Great post mike. There is a theory that the Mayan calendar predates our own by a year. So, in effect, 21st Dec 2011 would have been their prediction for doomsday. Still, let’s wait and see 😉

  20. Actually if you google the Mayan’s on the net, it does say that they made human sacrifices. And…in actuality there are no “pure” Mayan’s living, all that’s left now are folks of Mayan descent. Plus, I did say that is was their civilisation that died, not them. Just sayin’ LOL

  21. P.S. The current living Mayans might object to being told they’ve died off. They don’t dominate society as they did back in the olden golden days, but they are very far from gone. And all that blood sacrifice was not Mayan: it was Aztec. Aztec = Mexico. Mayan = Central America and south. Similar, yet different.

  23. I think we should plan on continuing to pay the bills. But hey, I won $7 on scratch tickets! Does that count as the end of life as we know it?

  32. This morning on the radio they were saying its supposed to end at 6am EST. So hey, if the world ends, no work tomorrow…not too bad, right? Most days I’m still in bed or just waking up at that time…so it’ll be a painless end.

    I’m not a believer in it, but hey, anything could happen, right? haha!

  33. If the world does end tomorrow I’ll be pretty pissed that I went to work today.

  35. This whole thing reminds me of the fellow who predicted the Rapture would occur sometime in May a few years ago, and when it didn’t he said he’d made some mathematical errors and revised his prediction, which has also already passed. Even the Christian scriptures state that no man knows the time when these things come to an end. Seems futile to keep hanging one’s hopes on ridiculous assertions like this. The Mayans were amazing astronomers, but they were also weak enough to let themselves die off. Not much point putting credence into their much embellished “predictions.”

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