The topic of Armageddon prevails as 21th December is
around the corner. It's everywhere, whether it's after tea talk, media news,
radios and even, surprisingly among the kids. Yes, and that's unexpected.
It's been a headline since years ago that it's a
prediction that we will be facing the end of the world on 21th December 2012.
The main reason for the rise of prediction is due to the fact that it's the
final date on the Maya calender.Despite of researchers' strenuous effort,the
actual reason of why 21th December remains as the final date of Maya calender
is yet to be known and confirmed.
Perhaps due to the uncertainty and the accuracy of the
so-called "prediction of Armageddon", more or less it has caused some
"emotional commotion". Calling it an emotional commotion seems to be
a bit exaggerating, I believe emotional disturbance seems to be a more suitable
description. I need to admit that, I had been uneasy with the overheated
topic. And I wouldn't want to term the topic as a prediction, but rather to
term it as a rumor, whether it's because that it has no concrete basis, or it's
a soothing act.
The funniest part of time is that, it soothes you, whether
from pain or anxiety. As the date approaches, my anxiety that I had years ago
fades with time. Till recently, this topic was brought up by a kid.
An eight years old boy came with excitement (you can't
really tell whether it's anxiety or excitement in an "overactive" boy
that has been always having his fun time almost every minute), he looked up
upon me with his big pair of shiny black iris and asked in a curious
tone:" Is there really a day which it will be mankind's last day (a.k.a Armageddon)?"
My heart thumped. It was an unexpected question from a kid, which I would
usually expect them to ask any out of the box questions from this world but
never this. Perhaps due to the all the super nutritious food with all the DHA, ganglioside or whatever it is that causes the kids nowadays to mature
early? Just my opinion, kids should act and think like kids, and that’s what
make them adorable and “kid”, no?
Though his adorable expression made me chuckled, to
respect his earnest question, I answered him in a serious manner:" Silly,
of course not. There would not be any end day such as Armageddon." Showing
disbelief, he refuted me with a strained expression:" No! There is
Armageddon! Everyone is saying it, even it is on the news!”
Poor boy, he was asking about something which he felt
seriously important to him. However, I strongly believed that he had asked the
wrong person. Since he was expecting to get the answer which he wanted, he
should not have asked me. If he were to ask me that question years ago, he
might get the answer he wanted, but not now.
First, we have no concrete evidence or theories that
suggest that there exist such a day. Second, even of there is really such a day;
there is no reason to terrify a kid. As normal civilians like us, though that
day exists, we would not be able to do much about it. Perhaps the wealthy, prestigious
or experts have the capabilities to build spaceships or whatever transportation
to “migrate” to the other planets, whether it’s Mars or Jupiter. We as
civilians will have to live our normal life on Earth till the end of our life.
Since, there is nothing much we can do, I don’t think a kid should be worrying
over matters that we are unable to solve or stop.
I had twice near death experience. I was close to the
stairway to heaven or the door to hell, whatever you want to describe it. It’s
close, but not close enough to drag me away. I am not trying to brag here, but
just to express my gratitude towards life. Death maybe or maybe not our last
destination, depends on your direction of looking it. As time passes, I started
to realize that, the main reason of people fearing of death is because that we
have not lived enough. How long is enough? There is no such thing as enough. We
don’t eat enough, don’t sleep enough, don’t play enough, don’t work enough,
don’t live enough etc. So what is enough? It depends on you. When you feel and
think that it’s enough, then it’s enough. To a beggar who has nothing to eat
for 3 days, a bagel would be truffle to him. For the blind, even a day of seeing light is considered a lifetime blessing for him.
Now what exactly are we looking for in a life that we require more time? More wealth, health and happiness perhaps. Flashing back my memories, when I was at the edge of death, I did not really think much, in fact I was not able to. My mind was blank. Yet, a strong feeling came to me, the feeling of regret. That feeling kept on telling me that the things that I have not done properly in my life before, it reminded me how I did not treasure the time with my loved ones, and how I took things for granted all along. Only one conclusion I obtained, I did not live my life to the fullest, and this is the reason why I was (possibly "am") scared of death.
Death is scary, especially when you have lots of things to feel regret about. The feeling is overwhelming when you think about you have plenty of "unfinished business". If I were to live my life to the fullest, probably the paranoia of Armageddon will not be that overwhelming.
I have been taking some time to figure about the definition of Armageddon, whether the explosion of the Earth is the end of mankind? I am not trying to research on how Armageddon will happen, but rather taking it from a sociological perspective. The conclusion that I have been getting is, the end of mankind is when the end of civilization. For the period since the existence of human, we have been emphasizing on the development of the sciences and technology, that are able to increase the standard of living. Thus, civilization will be referring to our standard of living, how high or great that it has became since our caveman ancestors period. Education too, has also put emphasize into increasing the EQ, IQ and subject expertise of the generations forthcoming. And, there seems to be an important aspect of mankind lack of development, which is of the virtue, ethics and morality. These are the backbone of human. These forms the vital values of human being being distinguished from animals.
Yet, as many of us have noticed, as we become more and more civilized in the aspect of sciences and technology, we also have to face with all the grieving news daily, whether it's war, murder, gun shooting, rape etc (for anything you can name it). Listen to the sobbing of people who loved ones who had sacrificed in the war and the sound of rifles and cannons, will you be able to sleep at night? Feel the pain when a knife stabbed into your heart, or your limb being slashed and ripped from your body, smelling of the strong smell of blood and the intolerable pain, don't you feel that death is much better than such suffering? Look in the view point of the students and teachers, who had seen with their own eyes the collapse of their classmates,colleague or students lying in pools of crimson red blood, being shot brutally by the gunners. Imagine your clothes being tore and being dishonoured and humiliated by a rapist, or hearing your loved ones screaming and crying for your help but you are helpless at the point? You see it, hear it, feel it. It's lugubrious. It's unbelievable. It's inhumane.
Instead of terming the whatever theories of Armageddon out there as the causes of perish of us, I would say that we will perish when mankind lost the human values of virtue, ethics and morals in us. And when we start to act like animals, that is when we doom, without the need of any external forces.
Would like to make a final note to the little boy who had asked me about Armageddon, kido, you don't need to worry about Armageddon, whether the sun will rise and set tomorrow, is tomorrow's matter. All you need to do today is to live the fullest, for today. About the end of mankind, it will be when we human, no longer be termed human. And that will be when we lose the human values within us, besides losing the right to be termed as human. Have a great childhood. ;)
Cheers,
S.L.Alpha
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