by Lenna Gonya

Created on: March 04, 2010   Last Updated: May 20, 2011

You are driving down the road, and you are stopped by a barricade. Ahead of you, there is a fleet of emergency vehicles, flashing lights, and confusion. It’s a train wreck. Media crews are busy snapping pictures, and filming. Even though you are detoured away quickly, you crane your neck to look. You know that you shouldn’t, and, you don’t know why you do it. Some people are saying that the world is heading for that ultimate “train wreck”, and, just as we do on the road, we are just curious enough to look into it.

Everyone, without exception, if they were to be honest, holds some particle of belief that some earth changing, or earth ending, event could happen. Whether you believe in it from a religious or scientific aspect, or, a combination of both, it is a possibility. You might attribute it to the Apocalypse, Armageddon, planetary shifting, or aliens, but, hopefully, you don’t spend your days obsessing over it.
It is human nature to be curious, and the media knows this all too well. They feed our human nature, and feed off our curiosity by producing “doom and gloom” documentaries and, “what if” scenarios.

Since the first person decided that the Mayans, Nostradamus, and whoever, had some inside information on the outcome of history, thousands have made money promoting the end of the world. And, we read it, and watch it in spite of ourselves. Religionists, who are tired of defending their positions, and, have seen moral values deteriorate in recent times, welcome any sign that they were justified in their warnings and admonitions.

In today’s world, when there is no such thing as stability, politically, economically, or in anything else, you would think that we would concentrate on something a bit more light-hearted. However, the fact that things could be a whole lot worse down the road might, in some bizarre way, makes us feel a little better. Apart from the fact that we are just naturally nosy, there is some genetic aspect in all of us that tells us we must be prepared. Not that we actually know how to prepare for this event, anymore than we knew what to do about the Millennium scare that prompted some of us to buy 300 cans of vegetables, and a generator.

The Apocalypse is not a new concern by any means, nor is the actual prophesized date. There have been several incidents in the last two hundred years when groups have prepared themselves for the end, only to find that it did not occur. Some, unfortunately, even went so far as to accelerate the process by ending their own world before hand. If there is a world changing event down the road, the fact is, there is nothing we can do to prepare for it, or prevent it. And, for all those who said, “I told you so”, there will be no recognition.

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