The End of the World

Wouldn’t it suck to win the lottery right now?

Imagine pocketing the lump sum of $250 million.  Your dream of a big house, fancy cars, and a trip around the world has just come true.  You’ll never have to work another day in your life.  Then, on the way to the bank, a giant fireball suddenly appears up in the sky.

Kaboom!

There’s a potential Twilight Zone episode in there somewhere.

………………..

In case you missed it, the world is going to end on December 21, 2012.  At least, that’s what some ancient Mayan calender predicts, which marks the final day of a 5,125-year cycle.  Never mind these savages spent most of their lives running through jungles and commonly sacrificed virgins to the gods.  Today, some people actually believe these tribesmen possessed unique insights into our future.  Despite their civilization utterly vanishing without warning more than a thousand years ago, they have supposedly alerted us to the very day when life on earth will end.  Now, that’s impressive.  Hell, I can’t even figure out what time Monday Night Football comes on each week.

This is a lose-lose proposition for a shitload of people.  First, we’re all pretty much screwed if the prophesy comes true.  We can all agree on that.  I don’t see a lot of upside in the entire world’s population being sucked into a deadly black hole — although I sure as hell will be applauding when it’s Kim Kardashian, Howard Lederer, and Donald Trump’s turn to enter the giant celestial vacuum cleaner.  That’s almost worth hoping it will happen.

But if the prophesy is false, some people out there will have lots of explaining to do.  There’s going to be enough egg on the faces of soothsayers to make the world’s largest omelette, assuming we all miraculously wake up on December 22nd, and there’s still an earth under out feet.