What are you doing in 2012?

Hi neighbors. Thursday I saw a curious show on the History Channel. It was offering all the various peoples, modern and ancient, who have predicted the world would end in 2012.

You've probably heard of the Mayan calendar. It ends on Dec. 21, 2012. December 21 being the winter solstice.

Apparently Merlin also agreed with that general date. Other prognosticators of our demise were the Oracles of Delphi, Mother Shipton, and the Sibyl of Cumaean who, inspired by Apollo (and juice from a few bay laurel leaves mixed with possibly toxic cave gasses) wrote the destiny of the world in nine books, burnt six of them and sold the last three to the first king of what would become Rome. She wrote her predictions on oak leaves and let them scatter into the wind. One of her predictions was the world would end in 2012.

Apollo's other oracles stationed in Greece, also predicted the end of the world in 2012. They too, were influenced by bay laurel leaves and gasses from volcanic cracks in the cave where they held court.

Mother Shipton, oracle in England during the Middle Ages predicted moving pictures, submarines, airplanes and (you've probably predicted the rest of it yourself) the world ending near 2012. Some say Mother Shipton never existed at all, but that kind of ruins the drama, don't you agree? Several Native American Nations predict the end of the world near 2012.

China's I-Ching supposedly points to the end of the world in 2012 according to one statistician.

A computer program first designed in the late 1990s and used to "predict" stock market activity based on news found on the world wide web, predicts some great change will occur in 2012.

Scientists now agree with a Native American prediction that the sun, earth and a large black hole in the center of the Milky Way will align on Dec. 21, 2012. Scientists say this might cause some type of magnetic "problem" that would wrench the outer mantle of the earth completely around, shift the poles, and pretty much make a mess of things. But scientists don't "predict," they just give us numbers.

And of course there is the biblical book of Revelation which graphically predicts the end of the world; but doesn't give a date.

Most people have their own opinion of what will happen at the end of time. Many will agree that their opinions were formed from their religious beliefs, their own research, or simply what someone else has told them.

As in most controversies, people want their particular version to be the "right" one. Whether they assume the Christ will return, green lizard men who seeded the race will return, nothing will happen and no one will return, or something will happen as a course of nature -- it seems a whole lot of people agree things will change in 2012.

If the world is going to end then, I don't suppose storing up bottled water will help much.

Neither will building a bomb shelter, moving to the mountains, or painting the SUV psychedelic pink and heading for the coast.

Maybe we should just enjoy each day a little more. Sit on the front porch and visit with the neighbors more often. Stop saving the good china for special occasions and worry less about seeding the yard and more about what seeds we've sown in our own lives.

One good thing, if the world ends in 2012, I won't have to finish paying off my mortgage. The bad news is, I probably won't get my family history books finished, nor that great American novel written. I suppose the good side of that is no one will be around to read them anyway.

The news mentioned the other day that efforts are being made to build a habitat on the moon. Don't you wonder why no one ever worries about predictions concerning the end of the moon? Most predictions about the end of the world include the end of the moon. I guess we figure if the earth goes, the moon will have to take care of its own problems without us.

Of course if you believe in positive (and negative) thinking, you might wonder why people seem so determined to foresee their own destruction. Why do we always assume we are headed toward a bad end? Why do we always predict we'll go out in a blaze of glory? Until the next time friends remember, if the earth is going to end, I predict it will be in the year 2012. That's the year I am supposed to start drawing my Social Security. I should have seen that coming.