12/21/2012

I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. ~ Winston Churchill

There has been a great deal of discussion about the Mayan Doomsday prediction date of December 21, 2012 in the past few years. Every third program on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and other cable networks seem to feature a marrying together of the 'end' of the Mayan calendar, coupled with Nostradamus' predictions of the end of the world. A major movie's teasers have left audience reeling their seats in fear, trepidation and a bit of nervous excitement. My 17 year old son, among many others, has a concern about this; and justifiably so. The idea that all things, as we know them, will cease to exist is petrifying. To come to terms with our existence on this planet, and to become fully aware of our potential as human beings, only to have it snatched away, is both hideous and alarming.

There are as many opinions as to how this Doomsday Apocalypse will happen; some say a world war, others natural disasters striking all at once. There are those who believe massive solar flares will reverse the polarity of the Earth. Still more believe that an immense meteor will strike the planet, as is the theory regarding the end of the dinosaur age. There are as many theories about "the End of Days" as there are peoples' opinions. There are those who believe this event heralds religious connotations, and scientists who are certain this is purely seismic and natural fact. There is even a smaller, but growing, school of thought that none of these ideas are true: that the end of the age will not signal our planet's destruction but, rather, will herald the coming of a 'change' in the frequencies of the universe. Quite literally, these people are confident that the date will ring in "The Age of Aquarius", to bring us to greater 'harmony and understanding'.

This post isn't about how the world is, or is not, coming to an end. When doing a little research about Doomsday predictions, I learned that literally hundreds of them have been predicted in my own lifetime alone. Thousands have been forecast since people have recorded time. Cults, religious sects, and scientists have had dates come and go without the demise of humanity. Does this mean we shouldn't be concerned? Of course it does. We should not be worried about an arbitrary date that might mean absolutely nothing at all. There are so many events that happen every day in the world around us....terrible tragedies like the horrific Haitian earthquake, Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami in Thailand...that we waste our energies fretting about a possibility when we have a call to action to assist those who are suffering right now. Yes, we can barracade our homes, stockpile bottled water and batteries. Or, we can help our friends, neighbors and global brothers and sisters by doing what we can to improve life in our world right this very moment.

I'm far more concerned about how I choose to live than how I will die someday. Will I die from a natural disaster, a solar flare, an earthquake or a flood? Will a massive storm rip apart my home? I don't know the answer to that question, any more than the 'experts' do. I may have a recurrence of the cancer I have beaten. I may have a traffic accident. I may contract a disease. I might be attacked by a group of wild boars. Anything can happen and life is fleeting. Therefore, instead of wasting time worrying about what might be the reason my heart stops beating I want to make a difference in the world with every single beat my heart does have. I want to be kinder, more helpful, more generous, more open minded and more tolerant. I want to offer my meager talents and gifts to be of service to others. We are given every day we are alive to use wisely. George Lucas once said, "Everybody has talent, it's just a matter of moving around until you've discovered what it is." I would like to add that, even if we don't know yet where our talents lie, we still have hands to help pick up, a mind to evaluate a situation and figure out how best to help, a heart to love and show compassion and ears to listen to where the needs in our communities lie.

It's my humble and simple opinion that the Doomsday predictions we see on television, bumper stickers and movies doesn't really matter. It's our response about how we choose to live that does. We can create bunkers and hunker down in fear and panic. Or, we can put ourselves out into the world, to love and help others, to do our best to relieve the suffering that already exists and to use each and every heartbeat wisely. We don't know what the future holds for any of us. But, I do know what I want to do with mine in the meantime: I want to make a difference in brightening the day of those around me, and around the world. I would rather walk in the rain, looking for patches of sunlight, than hide from the rain, never knowing when the sun would come out.