This and that with Mal'phosa - Doomsday, again and again

Got an e-mail from a client the other day; "I will be back in the office first week of January- - - unless of course the Mayans got it right this time and the world ends on 21 December 2012; then it's unlikely I will see anyone next year (nor will you for that matter); in fact there probably won't be a next year. May be the space-time continuum will shoot us off into a parallel universe? The mind boggles." Well, the world as we know it is supposed to have ended, one again, on this date. Since 250AD the world has ended in some zombies' minds more than 20 times! This time it was based on the fact that some peasants from some quite obscure civilization wrote a calendar that ended on this day. The fact that they became lazy and could not go beyond this date was used to cause alarm and despondency.

My son sent me a message daddy, "The world is supposed to end today and you are still not home with us." I replied him; "What time is it supposed to end; I want to take some pictures and save them for my grand-children." " Hahahah", that was his answer. At least I gave the hope that we can still laugh about our stupidity.  Later when he had gained some composure, albeit uneasy, he wrote back. "I think we are weird – or is it just me? We all are going to die in pour personal doomsday and we have no control over that." And, may be to reassure himself; "I have faith in Jesus that allows me to face those facts with more courage than I would have otherwise."
    
But Sqhezema believes doomsday has happened a long time ago. If we are living in simulation that some previous civilization created, then doomsday is beyond our comprehension. Doomsday predictions remind me of what the Nazis supposedly would tell the allied airmen once they captured them; "For you, the war is over." We might rather live to see the end of the world or we might live in fear of it but, we will all see the end of our worlds. For each of us, they will come a time at which ‘ - - - for you, the world is over!' And suppose I totally buy into this end of the world thing; here is what I would do; call up all my friends and family and neighbours and party like well, the world is coming to an end. It will be the first annual end of the world party. Wake up the kids to witness the wonder. The next morning after the hangovers recede, I can begin to prepare for the second annual end of the world party.

But since any zombie is allowed to put up a prediction, I predict the world will end in 2023 at 2 o'clock. But one must hasten to say that there seems to be a greater density of doomsday predictions in the modern era. Is it because of the real time dissemination of information due to advanced technology? There have been many predictions even during the stone-edge, but we never came to learn about them because information was just static. One also wonders if the culture of the end of the world is peculiar to westerners or general human condition? I believe any culture that believes in the beginning of the world must also believe in the end of it. As such, the belief in the end of the world is part of Christianity, Islam and Zorastoniarism. Little is ever said about the Muslim belief in the final judgment and the end of the world; but it is a belief built into Islam that they obviously inherited from Christianity. But Dee believes Jehovah's witnesses win for being wrong the most and they refresh quite frequently. And it is always funny and pathetic to see these end-of-the-world prognosticators trying to explain tomorrow why the things they predicted yesterday did not happen today. But as far as the Mayan prophecy goes, 12212012 is not the end of the world but the end of the calendar in the same sense the December 31 is the end of the calendar of the westerners. Godlwayo was also doubtful; our calendar includes leap-years, and the Mayans did not. So their 2012 was over a year ago and the world did not end then. But one can't help fear that some loony might get it right one day!

Siza thinks we need someone to clarify what is meant by the end of the world. Ask a thousand people and you will likely get a hundred different answers ranging from a complete annihilation to flooding to partial destruction, plagues, temperature extremes or steroid impacts rendering the planet earth inhospitable.  But still,the  big question that needs answers is why would people want the world to end.

One reader says he is over fifty and can't even remember all the doomsday prophesies during his life-time." In case you haven't noticed, none of them have come true." There are people who think it's not fair that they got to be born a peasant, be a slave, be bullied at school, work all day, be poor, be hospitalized, lose a loved one etc. and when one sees these hardships one also sees the rest of the world around him ‘jollyful' and always happy such that no one gives a damn about his life. If the world were to end, all these ‘jollyful' and happy people whom one perceives not to give a damn about ones hardships will suffer and give one a feeling of retribution. Suicide won't help because, besides being a coward's way out, the world will move on without you. So rather destroy the habitat of one's perceived enemies.

 Doomsday prophesies are also used as a scare tactic. For example, a certain religion may use doomsday prophecy in order to further their agenda of spreading their religion, moral, values and so on. ‘Uyabe ukuphi when this world turns nasty? Ours is the only way to salvation.' It's one thing to wish your life away but it's another to want the world to end for everyone. Crazier is trying to predict the end of it. The fanatics out there, religious or other type may exist that want it to end and have to keep it at the top of everyone's mind daily. Have you ever been in a situation where you wished the world would just end k'phele konke lokhu? Yes, that kind of situation.                    
Certain events have happened in our time that for those involved  felt like the end of the world; tidal waves, earth-quakes, floods, disease, war, famine. Certainly, religion has used these phenomena since time immemorial.  And as individuals, we create these fantasies to make our own demise easier to accept. Dee also says no matter how much you persuade some people, they never give up wishful thinking. People want mysteries and miracles; they want to believe that there is something supernatural even where there is a scientific explanation to an event.  He also believes that it may not be that people want the world to end; they are rather very scared of its ending. As a result they become morbidly obsessed with it.
                       
Someone at work says they like the thought that when they end, everything ends too. Still, he says, this thought will all end when I have kids or something worth protecting or living for. Yet there are some who are so eager to see the other side or the New Canaan. They are tired and are ready to go home.  Some are bored and want something big, and doomsday would be that thing. Siza says it's kid who talk about this; life is a game to them, like some never-ending movie. Without an ending, it makes for a very boring movie. I also believe each generation would like to be remembered as the one the saw Jesus descend from the sky aboard a cloud; the generation that God so loved so much he let them witness the end of the world. Ngiyabonga mina!
 

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