We are alive!
MANILA, Philippines - The last few years have had our eyes trained on yesterday’s date, which should have been the end for us all. But alas, you woke up today, picked up the paper, and began reading this article. So it’s either Philippine Star has the uncanny ability to distribute even in the midst of the second coming or someone should’ve supplied the Mayans with more stone tablets for their calendar-making activities. Whatever the case, I believe congratulations are in order: you’ve managed to survive the Mayan fauxpocalypse.
It seems “the end” is always upon us. Let’s remember radio evangelist Harold Camping who predicted the occurrence of the rapture — a time when Christ would return to reap the good souls and leave the not-so-good ones to die in Old Testament style (brimstone, plagues, pools of fire, the works). Camping predicted the rapture not once, not twice, but three times. The first time was in 1994. Obviously, this didn’t happen, so his prediction was revised. May 21, 2011, he said. The day came and went without incident, but Camping insisted that it was only the spiritual portion of the Great Judgment (nice save, dude), saying that the physical part would take place on October 21, 2011. I believe the only rapture that occurred that day was the delight I felt in my afternoon nap.
Nevertheless, our awareness of the end of the world has reached an all-time high, with incidents that used to be the mere illusions of Hollywood and its silver screens. Pablo. Ondoy. Sendong. Torrential rains with no names but fraught with pure destruction. Earthquakes in Japan. Tsunamis in Thailand. Katrina. Sandy. Events such as the Maguindanao Massacre, one that no one has been found accountable for in the three years since the murders happened. Or the more recent and infinitely heartbreaking Newtown shooting, where children as young as five years old saw the end before they could even relish a beginning.
It gets better
If Mother Nature has finally decided to push back after how we’ve laid waste to the land, and if this is how people are choosing to regard the lives and innocence of our children, maybe some people feel like we’re left with no other choice but to hope for the end. The world is turning into a labyrinth lined with razors, and we are turning to the idea of this being the end as a last grasp at hope. It seems easier to believe that the end is near because it is as every end-of-the-world plot says: It all goes to hell before it gets better.
However, Madonna, living legend and infamous for her access to many a shaman, said in one of her concerts that what the Mayans had predicted wasn’t the apocalypse, but a revolution of humanity. The end of their calendar meant a beginning of a new way of thinking, of loving, of relating to our fellowman. It may sound like a lot of crunchy yogi hippy dippy hoo-ha, but in the midst of where we are as a civilization, it’s a sentiment I can get behind.
The human ego is the highest summit one can conquer; we’ve produced civilizations, art, sciences, iPhones, the Internet, and Ryan Gosling. But we are also realizing now, more than ever, that despite our best efforts, we are still incredibly finite. It’s a truth that shakes us to the core, to desire permanence and a way to make an indelible mark on whatever we leave behind. But it’s also a truth that makes life so damn exciting. We are still here, and yet we are only here once. YOLO and all that.
The real question isn’t how it all ends, but what we’re doing with what we’re given until it does. And it doesn’t have to be some beauty pageant answer of striving for world peace and love for all mankind. The answers are simpler than that — be true, be generous with compassion, don’t wait until tomorrow to pursue your dreams. Treat others as you would like to be treated, love someone, love everyone, be kind when all else fails. Then it won’t matter if you’re eclipsed today or if the world is blown out like a birthday candle tomorrow, because it will all have meant something.
But today, we’re here and we’re alive. What comes of it is entirely up to you.
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