The End...

 

 

 

"This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end"

 

The End

The Doors

 

 

One of my funny lines so far this year was this: A friend of mine asked if I wanted to see the movie 2016. My reply was "Heck no! I saw 2012 and it scared the hell out of me!" The joke was of of course, 2016 is a political movie, and 2012 is about the end of the world - yet one more movie about the end of the world.

Soothsayers and prophets have been around since the beginning of time. Many of which always have had some dire prediction for the future of mankind. There was an ending, and the ending was usually not pretty. The most famous prognosticator of all time was Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus). He was a French seer who was best known for his book Les Propheties (The Prophecies), which was first printed in 1555. Today, many still swear by his predictions - others thought many were so obscure they were subject to interpretation. The only good news that came out of Nostradamus was no real end date for the world. His predictions went out as far as 3797, but no mention that would be the end.

In my lifetime, I think the most important prophet was Jeane Dixon. She was a modern day astrologer and psychic and gave advise to such political leaders as Richard Nixon and Nancy Reagan (when she was First Lady to President Ronald Reagan). I became aware of her was she (and other psychics) predicted in April 1969, a huge earthquake would rock the West Coast causing California to slide into the Pacific Ocean. As a young man living in Minnesota, one would think "who cares?".  My problem was this - I was going to San Diego to start boot camp in April 1969. The strange part of this story was during my second day in  boot camp, there was an earth tremor. Don't think that Jeane's prediction did not enter my mind during that tremor!

Today, we have the Mayan Calendar issue. For some reason, their calendar ends on December 21, 2012. Even though nothing was predicted for that day, modern day alarmists have told us it would be the end. Polar shifts, earth crust displacement, asteroid impact and even an alien invasion are the most common theories. Could this be the end? Who knows. All I know is this - we are planning for a family Christmas and beyond.

So on this Halloween, when I ponder "the end" of everything, I remember the old adage in which I try to live my life: "It is not the amount of years you have to live, but rather the amount of life put into those years". The end will come when the end will come. Until that day, I will live for today and plan for tomorrow.