By Nina Mariotti
As 2012 rapidly comes to an end, some would say the world is coming to an end as well. For the past few years now, people have been claiming that the Mayans predicted the world would end on December 21st, 2012.
Movies that show morbid or sad ways of the world ending,like “Seeking a Friend for the World to End” and “The Day After Tomorrow,” have been coming out in recent years. They reinforce and dramatize this idea that the whole world is going to come to a complete stop. As the date gets closer and closer, it gets more and more attention. This past week,it seems you can’t log onto any social media site without hearing about it. “End of the world confessions” was even a trending topic on Twitter!
So how has the trite notion that this date should mark the end of the world, even come about? There’s actually quite a bit of history behind it. It all starts with the infamous calendar made by a fascinating ancient civilization known as the Mayans. The Mayans were very much interested in the idea of time; therefore, the civilization’s scholars made a number of precise calendars. Basically, the Mayan Calendar is made up of three different sets of calendars: a religious calendar, a solar calendar, and a calendar called the Long Count. It is believed that the Long Count should mark the beginning and end of humanity, starting at 0.0.0.0.1, and ending at 12.19.19.17.20, which translates to December 21st, 2012. This is when the calendar ends, causing various theories of the world’s ultimate demise.
Now, it was kind of hard to find students in the school that actually believed the world was going to end today. But it did get people wondering: what if the world was to just end tomorrow? What would I do? Pretty much all of the students we talked to agreed that they’d want to spend the last day on earth with their family and friends.
Taylor Perry, senior, jokingly said, “I think I’d want to spend my last day with Morgan Freeman, just so I could die listening to his voice.” She thought that if this were all true, she’d just have to accept it, and hopefully sleep through it. She also mentioned that she’d want to do some adventurous things as well. Many people think of the end of the world as an opportunity to do things they normally wouldn’t.
Fatou Sylla said if she knew the world was really going to end, she’d tell everyone she knew her honest thought on him or her. “I’d tell people if I don’t like them and I’d tell people I love them,” she said. “I’d just do everything I regret not doing.”
Senior Alexandria Agusustak said she’d be pretty disappointed if the world were to suddenly end. “I would have spent my entire life on earth in school. I wouldn’t get the chance to see my future, know where I’ll go to college,or travel and have new, interesting experiences.”
Other embraced the inevitable doom. “It’d be really fun to throw an “end of the world” party,” says Laurel Hanniford.
But before you pack your survival kits just yet, you should know that in all actuality, the likelihood that the world is actually going to end is pretty slim. The Mayan calendar, as impressive as it is, did not account for leap years. This means that technically the world was supposed to end over two years ago. But the thought of an approaching apocalypse can really make us think and evaluate our lives.
What would you do today if you knew there was no tomorrow? Are you living life the fullest? It’s all up to you. Leave a comment down below and share with us what you would do on your last day on earth! Or let us know how you would survive the apocalypse!
