The End of the World as We Know it

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, right? Well, maybe in our day, after being made to study centuries of World History ... the rise and fall of nearly every nation ever born being repeated played out before our eyes ... maybe we do. An interesting change in plot lines has been occuring since the archeological evidence of the belief in the end of the world. Instead of alien invasion and radioactive fallout leading to the demise of humanity, the Earth itself is a ticking time bomb. We have only to wake up one morning to the alarm going off.

Now, the CGI techs in Hollywood couldn't have as much fun if someone didn't live to tell the tale or witness the destruction of all that our modern civilization has built with their mechanized dreams - far from bare hands. These movies, such as The Day After Tomorrow (2004), can be difficult to sit through, however, especially when based on a faulty scientific foundation that goes way beyond the theory of global warming. Others, though, like 2012 (2009) may present the viewer with a believable scientific and archeological base coupled by a realism in character response that keeps the viewer watching through the silliest of speeding limosine through city falling apart under an earthquake wreckage you've ever seen. (Really. I laughed out loud!)

Whatever the movie or the wildness in the telling, thinking about everything ending in a moment, is never a bad idea. Living the life we have in the best way we know how doesn't always have to be prompted by a realistic near death experience. I wonder if the Mayan calendar ended on the Winter Solstice of 2012 because someone ran out room. Or if, there was imagination enough to predict the future just that far. Or maybe, Someone whispered some secrets so that we -- who would actually see the year 2012 -- would realized our end was near and live accordingly.

My favorite scene in 2012 was the monk at the top of the Tibetan Plateau looking into the face of the wave that would take him to his death and ringing the bell. Not all of us will have time or the opportunity to say goodbye before we go (however we go), but I hope that we live our best day, everyday, so that when it is time... we go in peace.