Zero for 15 — since the turn of the 20th century, the end of the world has been predicted 15 times.
That’s not even including the number of times mentally unstable people on street corners in New York have preached that the end is upon us. And could you imagine, we’ve yet to see the Messiah.
May 21, 2011, also known as “Judgment Day,” came and went without the slightest change. So friends, what did we learn?
Not to listen to crazy old men who say the world is going to end.
Harold Camping, an 89-year old preacher from California instilled fear into the masses when he predicted the end of the human race, broadcasting messages over radio and on billboards across the country.
In a time when the human race is doing amazing things — like helping a 25 year-old paraplegic walk again after being paralyzed in a car accident — people remained ignorant enough to buy into the hype created by Camping as well as every other time the end of the world is predicted.
There has to be a reason for this.
There are few things that can throw a large percentage of the global population into such a state of panic like a claim of impending doom.
Perhaps people are secretly much more religious than they’d like to admit, and word of the Apocalypse reminds us all that we have not lived up to the standards of any higher power.
But if we are being honest with each other, we know this is not the case.
Maybe our fear of the unknown is what drives us to panic when the end of the world is announced. It is natural to fear what we do not know, and what happens after death is the pinnacle of this fear. However, this is also irrelevant when discussing the irrational reactions of people facing the alleged apocalypse.
Quite frankly, there is only one reason that makes sense in explaining these reactions: people need reasons to get out and live their lives to the fullest.
Most people go about their lives content with their own mediocrity, and never attempt to fulfill their dreams.
When they hear that the end of the world is upon them, their irrational reactions are merely a kick-start to a last ditch attempt at living out their every dream.
Maybe somebody should declare an apocalypse annually. Quite frankly, it would be a winning situation for everybody — believers would be given the necessary kick in the pants to get out and live, and skeptics would go on with their lives, and maybe we could all indulge in “end- of-the-world sex” more often.
This month, people sold their houses and emptied bank accounts in attempts to fund last minute excursions.
In a time when there’s an app or reality show to cover practically every aspect of life (seriously, there is even an app for making a grocery list), people have become increasingly complacent with the lives they have settled with.
One man spent $140,000 on posters to warn public transit riders of the alleged apocalypse.
First of all, where did this man get all that money that he could just throw away on “the end is now” posters?
Secondly, why not use that money to do something you really want to do in life, to live out your dreams?
It shouldn’t take the world ending for us to really live our lives, and maybe we should stop believing claims that the end of the world is coming — the guy who wrote the calendar probably just got tired of writing, no need to read anything more in to it.
For those who don’t believe, it would eventually become a “boy who cried wolf” idea, and people will eventually stop caring.
For those who do, hopefully they will be more inspired to get out and live their lives to the fullest.
