The End of the World

There is a lot of talk lately about the End of the World.  This, of course, is because the Mayan calendar runs out on December 21, 2012.   The Mayans were evidently world-class calender keepers, so some people are a little worried that the Mayans might be right, and the end is near.  This is kind of silly, it seems to me, because I don't remember ever before hearing about anything the Mayans said or believed.   So, why should anyone believe their supposed prediction about the End of the World?  Besides, they didn't specifically predict the End;  their calendar just stops later this month.

I think part of the reason that many are interested in the end of the Mayan calendar is that people are fascinated about possibility of an Apocalypse.  In recent years we've heard a lot about Near Earth Objects, which are things flying around in the cosmos close enough to the Earth that there is a possibility that they could slam into our little blue sphere,  thereby ruining our plans to experience the Fleetwood Mac  reunion tour, or go to visit Breckenridge next summer, or whatever.  Oh, and it would kill us all, or at least most of us.

There is much in popular movies, books, and TV shows that explores what the world would be like after some catastrophe, or plague, or hordes of  Zombies had killed most of the Earth's population.  This stuff sells because people are interested considering possible futures, however unlikely they may be.  We all wonder about what may lay ahead, both for each of us individually  and the world as a whole.  What's going to happen in 2013?  How old will I be when I die?  What kinds of lives will my grandkids live?   And the biggest question of all:  What happens after I die?  Whatever you believe about life after death, no one really knows what's on the other side.  Shakespeare's Hamlet called the afterlife "the undiscovered country...from which no traveler returns...." He was right, of course; tickets for trips to the Other Side are usually one way.

So, we don't know what the future holds, and for that reason it is fascinating to consider ideas about the future, even horrifying ones.  I have always tended to ponder the future, especially this time of year, when another Christmas is at hand, a new year is upon us, and I'll celebrate another birthday next month. (Where do the years go?)  The recent past has provided plenty of reasons to be concerned (worried?) about the coming days.  While we may not face the End of the World soon, some kind of lower-case "end of the world" seems at least possible.  People on both sides of the political aisle were certain that if their guy didn't win the 2012 Presidential election, we were all doomed. Whatever your political bent, it is clear that our government is pathetically broken, and now we face the Fiscal Cliff, which, while not the Killer Flu of Doom, certainly wouldn't be a good thing.   Lots of people are wondering if next year will include their continued employment.

A couple of months back, the fact of the unpredictability of the future was brought home forcefully to  my wife Dana and me, and to lots of people we know.  A horrific automobile accident occurred at the busy intersection outside the surgery center where Dana works.  As it happens, Dana was in the parking lot helping a patient into his car, when she noticed a cement mixer making a right turn from the east, to go north past the west side of the parking lot she was in.  As she turned away to tend to the patient, she heard a horrific sound, which she described a huge crunch.  When she turned back to see what had happened, she saw the source of the crunch: The cement mixer had somehow tipped over as it was making the turn, and it was resting on its driver's side, on top of a small passenger car.  The driver's side of the car was flattened.  She shouted for another nurse, and they ran down to see if they could help anyone.  It was immediately clear that there was nothing they, or anyone, could do for the lady in the car.  She had been killed instantly.

Within a matter of minutes, word about the wreck was all over town, although the details were sketchy.  The local TV web site showed a shocking picture of the wreck and reported that one woman had been killed.  Dana called me to tell me about it and to let me know that she had witnessed the wreck, but was not the victim, which I appreciated, since she works at that location.  A few minutes after that, a friend at work came to my cubicle and asked me if I had seen the picture on the internet.   I told her I had and that Dana had been a witness.  My friend then told me that the victim was someone we both knew.  She had worked at the same place we do, and so do her husband and her mother.

As this fact became generally known,  the almost universal reaction among the people I work with was disbelieving shock.  How could this happen?  We saw this lady everyday.  We knew her family members.  She was in her forties, and had found happiness in a new marriage.  How could she be dead?  She was just driving around town, doing the things on her schedule for that day, and now she was dead, killed in unimaginably horrible way. The resulting conclusion for us who worked with her, and for Dana, and for many people in town who watched the news and saw the pictures of the accident site, was inescapable.  If this could happen to the her, it could happen to anyone.  It could happen to someone I love. It could happen to me.

Of course, this fact was not and is not news to anyone.  We all know that the days of our lives are finite, that we will all die.  We all know know that, whatever we have planned for tomorrow, or next week, or next summer, we have no real idea what is going to befall us.  This is not news, but so often we react in shock and horror when these facts are forced upon us by some event like this accident. Perhaps it is necessary for people to put aside that knowledge to a degree to avoid being overwhelmed by it.

Recently I have been reading Bill O'Reilly's book Killing Lincoln.  In it, O'Reilly reveals that Lincoln had dreams and premonitions that his death was near.   In fact, he was certain that he would not live long past the end of the Civil War.  He was right.  However, he refused to be mastered by that knowledge.  O'Reilly writes that Lincoln said, "If I am killed I can die but once, but to live in constant dread is to die over and over again."

I consider that great advice from a great man about how to face whatever lies ahead.

Copyright © 2013 by Steven W. Fouse