The day after Tomorrow [355/365]

So we have finally reached the last day on earth.
As I write this post, I'm filled with the profound grief that I won't be able to finish my 365 posts this year.

All because the Mayans ran out of space to add another calender year. But if you thought that was silly, wait till you hear this-
Dozens of Michigan schools closed early for holidays, sending home 80,000 students, due to rumors related to the Mayan doomsday and police in China arrested almost 1,000 people belonging to the doomsday Almighty God Christian cult for spreading rumors about the end of the world.

Upto 30% of all adults polled earlier this year believed that the world will indeed 'end' on the 21st Dec, 2012. And so the Hollywood movie 2012 became one of most successful movies this year grossing $770 million worldwide. Talk about feeding the growing appetite for fear.

For those in the West who think vengeance and victory are as American as Apple Pie, we now have an internet hoax which tells us that PSY's nonsensical prance is proof that he is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Now, I don't know nor would I care if the world ended tomorrow.
Atleast I know I won't have to worry about reaching work on time or paying my credit card bills.
But there is something to all the publicity around the End Times. Every major religion talks about them and every believer is free to interpret in a way they like.

Somehow I realize it isn't because we are worried we will run out of rations or face unruly mobs. It could be because we all have 'unfinished business'.
Our inherit fear of death and subconscious realization that we will suffer the consequences of our thoughts and actions (or the lack of it) could be the reason why we are petrified.

We are too caught up trying to pack as much into our lives because we are told we have just one life to live. We are too reluctant to pause.
As a young person, I don't expect to die of natural causes anytime soon, but when the time comes I'd like to die with the peaceful realization that I did the right thing at the right time and never withheld goodness from anyone it was due to.

Are you ready to die tomorrow?

The Storms are coming [305/365]

In the movie 2012, planet Earth is being ravaged by natural disasters leading up to the end of the world as we know.
What's interesting is how everything happens almost simultaneously.

Now, personally I think 2012 is a wonderfully done movie and plays to the survivalist streak in each of us. It outdid 'The Day After Tomorrow' in almost every technical department and grossed a ton of money too. A bunch of looney toons endorsed it and we even have a city that put up a countdown timer so that its citizens can be constantly reminded of how long they have before they die!

But do I think the earth will end and we will all die on the 21st of Dec this year? I don't think so. If it were that simple, I'd say we wouldn't have so much sin and evil and everyone would have turned a believer. In the Bible, Christ was often asked about when He thought the Judgement day would happen.
He would answer, 'The day and time is not for you to know... and it will come upon you when you'd least expect it'. Fair enough, I say.

I don't want to live like I am going to die in 50 days, but live to make each day count. Many people who believe the world will end this year have cited increasing civilian unrest, geopolitical struggles, rising economic instability and increasing number of natural calamities as proof that we will all die this year end.

Recent human and nature conflicts have only fueled their theories.
So while the whole of the East Coast and much of South India has seen the fury of bad weather because of Sandy and Nilam, many got an impromptu weekend and caught up on some much needed shut-eye.

But in the meanwhile, I happened to talk to a certain person who firmly believes that the world will end this year. Right after he pointed out why this convincing theory is water-tight, I asked him what his new year plans were and he told me that he had already booked his tickets to party in Goa.
I rest my case.