End of Line

What would you do if you knew it was your last day on Earth?

We all know the world is not ending tomorrow. We know the Mayans were simply ending a calendar, and this nonsense is a misunderstanding. But, the fervor with which some people have latched onto the idea of World's End is kind of telling in and of itself. Why are so many people so seemingly eager for the world to end?

You can argue that the breathless, panting, ghoulish excitement over endtimes is a bunch of nutters who get their kicks off of shared schadenfreude. Some people really want to see a nuclear holocaust, or a huge earthquake, or another mass shooting. We won't concern ourselves with those people.

Instead, I suspect that at least some of the people who can't stop talking about apocalypse are entranced because they see it as a way out of the terrible all around them. Twenty children dead. Poverty. Heartache. Rampant intolerance and hatred of other. Perhaps the end of the world seems like a good way to wrap it all up in a neat bow and do away with what sometimes feels like a broken society.

But, I think all this doomsday talk actually might serve a better purpose. So many of us (myself included) exist in a perpetual state of waiting: waiting for a better job, a better relationship, a nicer house, a time of financial stability, a baby, whatever. Waiting to be happy. But, whether the world ends tomorrow or 300,000,000,000 years from now, none of us is promised the future. We shouldn't be sitting around and waiting for "a time when". We should be trying to make each now the most important.

So, what would you do today if you knew it was your last day on Earth? Would you hug your family? Have a huge party? Go on a binge? Sit with a good book? Whatever your personal answer is (unless it's about harming yourself or someone else) DO IT. Do it today. Let's make December 20th a day for having no regrets. Tell the people you love that you love them, and then when December 21st comes around and we're all still here, do it all again.

I know what I'll be doing today. Do you?