Some people believe that the world is going to end tomorrow. Others believe it will happen in 2012. If I were a Las Vegas odds-maker I would give equal weight to everyday between today and the actual end of the world, whenever that may happen.
Last year I decided to stop watching movies about the end of the world. I made this decision after watching the film "The Road" based upon the Cormac McCarthy book of the same name and my vote for the most depressing and hopeless film I have ever had the displeasure of watching.
If and when the end of the world comes; be it through rapture, disease, environmental disaster, a super volcano or a zombie attack, I have no control over any of these things. My current moratorium on post apocalyptic films (unless they are funny-see Zombieland), is about my desire to no longer "entertain" myself by watching things that upset my fragile psyche.
The end of the world has been predicted more times than Bill Gates has dollars. I imagine that if we were to take a survey of end of the world predictions these would correspond to at least one prediction everyday for the whole of history.
Some people look for evidence that the world is going to end. Some look to the Bible: plagues, wars, rumors of wars. There is not a time in history when a plague of some kind has not been present. There has not been a moment in time when a war was not being fought somewhere over something. Other people look to present natural or man-made disasters; earthquakes, volcanoes. A simple read of history book tells us that earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disaster have been present throughout history, ever heard of Mt. Vesuvius?
Some people, like Pat Robertson, see the hand of God in every disaster, calling it divine punishment for the wickedness of man. Other's see natural and man made disasters as evidence that there is no God at all. I prefer to believe that, in a world with so many natural and man made disasters, the fact that any of us make it a day is evidence of God.
While the question of God's existence and involvement in the daily operations of planet Earth will, without doubt, be debated until the end of time, the one thing that I am certain of is that what I have control over in this world is a very small postage stamp on a very large envelope.
I had a friend who spent most of his time reading about the end of the world. When he read the Bible he only read Revelations. When he watched television he only watched shows about various forms of catastrophic doom and gloom. When he got on the internet he only read various conspiracy theories about how the governments of the world have created diseases.
While my former friend is perhaps an extreme case, he is indicative of many of us. While he read, he neglected his body through a lack of exercise. While he watched TV, he popped potato chips in his mouth. While he read the internet, he smoked cigarettes. If I were a gambling man, I would bet that he will eventually die not in a nuclear holocaust or super volcano, but by heart disease or cancer. My suggestion to him, take up jogging.
So while the world may end tomorrow, or in a billion years. What remains true and timeless is that we only have control over what we can control. We only have influence over what we can influence. If you are concerned about environmental disaster, recycle. If you are concerned about a zombie attack, take up running.
I leave you with this final thought. Q: What has killed more people than all of the wars in history combined? A: The lowly mosquito. Yes, the truth is, no matter what we do, the mosquito wins in the end. Somehow I find that thought comforting.
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