One of the most common questions I get from people when talking about this blog is ”Do you think the world will end?” Silly people… I usually ask them what the phrase ‘the end of the world’ means to them, as it really is different to everyone. Not a lot of thought out responses, this is one of those recurring moments that I have where I wish people would think a little deeper and try just a little harder. It’s usually something naïve like “All living things dying” or “Nuclear winter”, which don’t get me wrong- are very bad things.. but people forget. Or maybe they just don’t realize.
“All living things dying” is perhaps one of the stupidest things I have ever read. Riddle me this.. if all of humanity died- would the animals of the Earth or the Earth itself care that we were dead? No. Would they notice we were gone? Perhaps, but I’m pretty sure the animals and Earth would be pretty happy about our removal. “Good riddance,” they would say, “the return of true roaming is upon us.” On a larger scale for a moment, let’s remove the rest of living things. A barren planet with not a living thing in sight. Do you think Earth would care that it was the new Uranus? I think not.
I guess what I’m getting at is how does the world even end? If there is not a human being to comment on it, it hasn’t ended- because no one knows. No one is around to tell anyone else about it. And for that matter, if there is someone around to tell you about it then the world didn’t end- in fact humanity survived against insurmountable odds.
To me the “end of the world” isn’t so much the end of the world as it is more “the end of the world as we know it”. That could mean a million things. For teenage girls in North America, the end of the world would be the death of shopping malls and boy bands. For life long students the end of the world would be the loss of merit in their degrees. For any thriving country, every modernized citizen of the world, the death of technology and electricity would be the end of the world. To a plant the end of the world would be no dirt in which to place its roots. To a lion the end of the world would be nowhere to hunt and roam free.
The meaning of the end of the world is subjective. So is the meaning or merit of humanity. So am I and so are you. It is all to be interpreted, and every single one of our interpretations will vary. There is no correct answer and there is no wrong answer. Trying to find one is just as fruitless as looking for the meaning to life. I do feel that the people who obsess over what the end of the world really is are usually people who have given up on finding a real answer to the meaning of life. ‘If we cannot figure out its beginning, let’s at least figure out its end.’
Either way, the world already ended; in a million different ways to a million different people. It’s happening today, it’s happening tomorrow and you can catch on the evening news tonight. It’s all around you; if you open your eyes and appreciate things at their actual value. Finding your apocalypse is a matter of defining your apocalypse. For me, that’s not sharing my thoughts, my ideas, my mind. That would truly be the end of the world for me.
So do I think the world will end? Yes, I do. Do I think the world will end in the way prophecies, society, Hollywood, and the media paint it? Maybe… and who am I to even answer that. Do I think that humanity needs a “catastrophic event” for the world to end? Nope. I genuinely think that we’ll end up sabotaging ourselves.
The second most common question? - “What are you going to do if the world doesn’t end on December 21st 2012? Will you keep writing?” Once again, silly silly people. The correct question would be ’What are you going to do if the end of the Mayan calendar doesn’t mean a thing, and the apocalypse doesn’t happen?” First of all that would mean that you are assuming I believe in the televised Maya myths. The Maya were an interesting group of people. They knew things they shouldn’t have known and made things that seem improbable for their skill level. They were fucking awesome people.. minus the human sacrifices and all. I am fascinated by them… but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I believe that the end of their calendar is the end of humanity. It also doesn’t mean that I can ignore that fact that this year is the culmination of many prophecies. I am no Ronald Camping, and make no predictions so I will have no reason to shut down this site post 12/21/2012.
There will be more prophecies.
More conspiracies. More mysteries to figure out.
The world will continue to have devastating things happen for me to write about.
That is a guarantee.
Life is a conspiracy theory,
and it always will be.
xoxo disaster girl
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