Doomsday

Doomsday has been a frequently discussed topic since a long time ago. There have been various theories and legends behind each doomsday story. Each and every story has its own group of believers and skeptics involved. The backgrounds of these stories vary. Some of these stories make more sense than others. Each story is different from the rest. However, one fact remains unchanged since the beginning of the very first doomsday story. That is, each and every doomsday has been proved wrong so far.

The most recent doomsday theory originated from the Mayans. Due to 21/12/2012 being the end of the Mayan calendar, many speculated that this meant that the Mayan's believe that this day will be the end of the world. Thus, with this, 21st December 2012 became another theoretical doomsday. This doomsday theory has been quite popular despite its strange origins. There has even been a movie "2012" dedicated to this doomsday theory. Among believers, there are many different views as to how the world would come to an end. Some views seem more reasonable than others, but the truth is, none is adequately supported.

A doomsday theory with no scientific theory or proof as support rendered many scientists and non-religious personnel skeptical. In fact, even the Mayans themselves never said specifically that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Others have merely extrapolated this meaning from the ending of the Mayan calendar. This doomsday theory is pure speculation.

The fact is that the Mayans have an incredibly complex calendar that involved both a 365-day solar calendar like ours and a 260-day religious calendar. “The combination of the 260-day ritual count and the solar calendar produced a repeated cycle of 52 years,” said Dr. Eleanor Harrison-Buck of the department of anthropology at the University of New Hampshire. “This is referred to as the Calendar Round. For calculating dates beyond the 52-year period, the Maya used a system called the Long Count.” At the end of the Long Count calendar of 5,125 years the Mayans simply started counting again, starting a new cycle. Thus, we can see that this doomsday story has no basis at all.

However, many have come to believe in this doomsday theory because they did not know the true reason behind the end of the Mayan calendar. This doomsday theory has caused fear to grow in many people as the days draw nearer to "the end". This notion that doomsday is approaching has had many negative effects. So much so that some governments had to take actions against those promoting the doomsday theory lest it create more chaos and unrest among the citizens.

Fortunately, reality has proved this doomsday theory wrong. December 21, 2012 has passed and the world has yet to come to an end. This is neither the first doomsday theory to have such questionable origins nor the most improbable one. Even so, there will be new doomsday theories being born and new theories proven wrong in the future. Honestly, I believe that it is highly unlikely for the world to come to any abrupt end that can take us by surprise.

Even if one day one of these theories might be true and the world will truly end, I believe that there is little we can do about it. In fact, this inevitable end might happen so far in the future that it should be none of our concerns. So for the time being, we should just live life to the fullest and try to leave our mark on this world. The end has yet to come, so let us continue striving for a brighter future.

See the following doomsday fact sheet for more details. http://lunarscience.nasa.gov/articles/doomsday-2012-fact-sheet/