12/21/2012: Is This The End for Planet Earth?

The Earth seen from Apollo 17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to the Mayan calendar, the world is supposed to end this Friday.  We don't know how it will end, or even if it will actually happen.  But it's best to be prepared just in case.

Fireballs from the sky.  Tsunamis.  Earthquakes.  Raging storms.  The Earth implodes.  Humans going the way of the dinosaurs.  It all sounds like a bad special effects-laden disaster movie, or a History channel documentary.  That's what could happen Friday.  Or not.

Some of you are treating this as one big joke, using it as an excuse to go out and party.  Comedians have been making fun of it.  That's called gallows humor, and it's about as funny as a crutch.

Some of you are more skeptical.  The federal government has been trotting out its researchers and scientists to try and convince us that the Mayan calendar is wrong.  But all that is for public consumption.  Maybe the government and the scientists know more than they're telling us.

Some of you are treating the possible apocalypse with deadly seriousness.  These are the signs of what some believe are the End Times:  Global climate change, with its heat waves and storms.  School shootings.  World economic collapse.  Some of you are going to be hiding in your bunkers, armed to the teeth.  Some of you will be praying to the deity of your choice and commit mass suicide.

Some of you will be mourning the passing of life on Earth which, despite its problems, had been well on its way in advances in technology and human development.  For others, the end of the world can't come soon enough.

Maybe December 21 will simply be a flip of the calendar, a chance for all of us to start fresh and look forward to a brighter future.  Or else it'll be just another day and nothing's changed.

If you are reading this on or before December 21, turn off the damn computer or smartphone and give yourself one last look at the world around you.   Give yourself one last chance to say goodbye to everything and everybody that's important to you.  If you have no regrets about the kind of life you've lived up until now, then don't worry about it.

If, however, you're reading this after December 21, then never mind.  We made it, at least until the next doomsday prophecy.  Happy holidays.