End of the World? May 21, 2011

I'm at my mom's house today and we've been prepping my old bedroom for my arrival.  I'm taking a break from cleaning and moving stuff to watch some tv.

My mom has a new flat screen in the living room so I found a good HD channel (Science Channel) and the show playing is "Meteorite Men" which is pretty interesting.

I was planning on writing about the end of the world today anyway so I figured while I'm watching this show is as good a time as any.

You probably have heard that May 21st, 2011 is the end of the world.  Well, at least that is the rumor.  There have been about 20 of these rumors over the course of my life, but I didn't have a blog then, so here you go.

An article that explains this phenomenon can be found here, or you can google it.   Okay I'm kiding, that's not a good article at all, but I found it hilarious that people are worried about their dogs after the world ends (sad thought but, wouldn't they be dead too?), and the fact that these people are willing to pay to sign them over to an Athiest (ironic considering those worried about rapture are religious).

Now while I find them interesting topics of discussion, I'm no plate tectonic expert, cosmos expert or even climate change expert (that's one of my mom's area of knowledge, though).   I do have to say there have been a lot of wacky things going on as of late.  Tsunamis, earth quakes, all the unrest/upheaval in the Middle East, hurricanes,  bird flu (ha, don't get me started), warm winters, extremely long cold winters, rainy summers, and blastingly hot summers...oh my!  I mean they even have an entire TV series on the meteorites that hit earth.

So on one level I understand that here is cause for concern that the earth may be turning against us, or the fear that the earth will not escape a large Texas sized meteor like it did in the age of Ben Affleck's Armageddon.

I thought about this theme and there have been many songs written about this fear, even if abstractly, as often songs about the end of the world are political songs or commentary versus being about the actual apocalypse (with the exception of Britney of course, I'm sure it is about the Apocalypse versus just about sex...ha).

(I'm not intending any copy write infringement by posting/suggesting these songs)
Muse - Apocalypse, Please
R.E.M - It's The End of The World
Britney - Till the World Ends
Tool - Ænima  If you don't know how weird (and awesome) Tool is, then don't watch the video, as their artistry is more intense/disturbing than their songs...if that's possible.
Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
Doors - The End 

Now bringing us back down to earth here, I find it hard to believe that on the 85th birthday of my grandfather, doomsday will occur. I don't know, I just feel like I've made plans for next week already (including an interview!), and I just can't imagine that this "is it".

If this was it I'd assume a lot of us would feel pressure with 3 days to atone, binge on sex/drugs/rock and roll and tell lots of people we love them.

I believe that we should probably do this more day to day anyway (aside from the binging on drugs thing). Granted we need to keep in mind that our actions have consequences, as the world isn't in fact ending...but living life to the fullest is probably a best practice about being mindful and present.

So, what would you do if you knew that the world was ending in 3 days?  What of those things should we be doing now? 

I think what is nice about this hoopla is that it gives people (not swept up in the fear) the opportunity to be reflective and see what in their lives they would like to change, add, remove, etc.  In no way am I trying to give y'all panic attacks about the end of the world, and I hope that you're not someone who is taking this too too seriously (if you are you might want to hit "next blog" a couple of times and find a religious blog and follow that instead).

With that said, I do think it is a good time (like spring cleaning) to reevaluate ourselves.

I suppose it's possible that come Saturday (after I graduate!) that this blog will be blasted into the ether along with the people reading this, but I'm going to take a chance and say...I'll see you Sunday.

That way if I'm right, hey I'm right, and if I'm wrong, it won't matter.

Until next time (or at least until Saturday),
E