The End of the World
Sixty-seven million years ago the world came to an end, or very nearly. A gigantic meteor six miles across came hurtling from the depths of space, from the asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, and crashed into the Earth , where the present Yucatan peninsular of Mexico juts out into the Caribbean. The result of this calamity was the demise of the dinosaurs which had ruled the world for millions of years. The huge dust-cloud which enveloped the earth blotted out the sun and suffocated the creatures that roamed the earth, and deprived the remaining animals of food and water.
Could a similar catastrophic event be repeated? Scientists and astronomers are always on the alert, plotting the course of maverick rocks which litter space and which have a trajectory which attracts them towards the gravitational pull of Earth. Yet natural disasters on such a scale occur infrequently and mankind has entered the race towards Armageddon through the invention of devastating forms of weaponry, through mindless contamination of the planet and through exploitation of the world's resources. Sightings have occurred of strange unearthly objects and reports have been published by trusted and respected individuals of large cigar-shaped vessels in the sky which spawn saucer-shaped craft which swoop and hover soundlessly and cause electrical disturbances giving rise to graphic accounts in the media and subsequent denials by the authorities. Are they a warning to mankind to halt the headlong race towards oblivion? Warnings have been made by prophetic individuals from the past, from the biblical book of Ezekiel to the quatrains of Nostradamos, but it is the prophecies of the Mayans which currently occupy the minds of literate folk around the world. The Mayan, Toltec, Aztec and Inca civilisation were the four great empires which rose and fell in the Americas culminating in the final coup de grace delivered by the Spanish conquistadores. These civilisations were afflicted by climate change, internecine feuds among the tribes and by the brutal and rapacious invasions from across the Atlantic. The indigenous natives in their thousands were massacred, and proved to be no match for the military technology of the conquerors. The Mayan Calendar comes to an end in the year 2012 and the date of the final countdown is December 21st.
Throughout 2012 people around the world began making preparations and to face the prospect of an imminent end. There had been a number of warnings that the earth had entered a period of severe disturbance and turbulence. There had been a devastating earthquake beneath the Pacific Ocean that had instigated tsunamis which had resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand. There had been earthquakes in New Zealand, Turkey and Spain and volcanic eruptions in Indonesia, the Philippines, Italy and Mexico. There had been a big increase in solar activity causing magnetic disturbances and manifestations of the aurora borealis. There had been global warming, melting of glaciers and polar ice and freak weather conditions such as the floods in Australia, blizzards in eastern Europe and drought in India and north America. On top of all this came a global recession which deepened and spread economic ruin. This was caused by several factors, a banking crisis, a housing crash in the over-valued property market as prices tumbled and by the profligate ways of governments which believed in spending as if there was no tomorrow. Increasingly it appeared that after 21st December there really would be no tomorrow.
Globalisation of trade and faith in the value of paper currency rather than real assets had resulted in the western economies being stacked up like a row of dominoes so that when one collapsed it set off another and another, first Greece, then Portugal, then Ireland, then Spain, then Italy until even France was under threat. It seemed like the end of a golden age. The euphoria of the Sixties and Seventies when people were actively questioning the purpose of life and seeking spiritual wisdom and self-realisation had faded away, the flowing shoulder-length hair and beads had given way to military style haircuts, shaven heads, tattoos and body piercings, sure signs of the changing mentality in society. Was the world going completely mad, and did any hope exist for future generations?
The media was rife with speculation about the manner and form of the impending apocalypse. Would it take the form of a direct hit from an asteroid as before, or would it be an internal convulsion signalled by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Would alien spacecraft be on hand to rescue a chosen few for the purpose of breeding and colonising another suitable planet? Would the world end in a devastating all-consuming fire or another Great Flood? Would the world end with a bang or a whimper? Fervent believers began to pack the churches as had never been seen since the 1950's. Moslems threw up their hands and said it was the will of Allah and nothing could be done. Various religious groups talked of climbing a mountain to sit it out, as members of the Aetherius Society had done in the late Sixties. Revellers and hedonists vowed to live their last weeks and days to the full, throwing lavish parties and engaging in all kinds of decadent activities. Books by George Orwell, H.G. Wells and Aldous Huxley were printed and sold in their thousands. The recent recession and the economic melt-down faded into insignificance in the face of an even greater threat.... a threat which imperilled life itself. Palmists, Tarot Card readers and fortune-tellers had a field day but they did nothing to alleviate the fear and trepidation which was tangible in society. It was said that a third of the people on the planet should need to disappear before the earth could return to a stable equilibrium and sustainability. However, the likelihood of people agreeing a lemming-like pact to engage in self-destruction was extremely remote. The urge for self-preservation was too strong for that.
As autumn followed summer tensions in the world increased. The Palestinian question remained the top priority of governments, along with Afghanistan, which rapidly appeared to be disintegrating and ripe for a Taliban take-over. Iraq remained unstable and split by sectarian animosity. Iran still denied that it was engaged in a nuclear weapons programme. China was threatening to beat the capitalist western countries at their own game, while shielding its own inhabitants from the ideals of freedom and democracy much vaunted in America. Mankind was in great need of being brought to its senses, but a total annihilation of humanity was too dreadful to contemplate. People began to yearn for a saviour who would emerge to restore the world to peace and sanity. By December the airwaves were buzzing as people got in touch with long-lost relatives, forgotten friends, and sought comfort from all manner of palliatives.
What were you doing when the world ended, you might ask? Well, I was living a quiet life in the Costa del Sol. The summer had been particularly hot and the beaches were thronged with tourists taking advantage of the long sunny days. Most people acted as if nothing was about to occur and generally ignored the scare-mongering stories in the press. True, there had been reports in the English papers of sightings of UFO's on the Costa, but it had hardly been a popular talking-point, and nothing to compare with the all-consuming obsession with football and beer. Life on the surface seemed to go on quite normally with very little real awareness of the bomb-shell which was destined to destroy the world as we know it forever. As December wore on people started preparing for Christmas, decorating their apartments and taking the children to meet the numerous Santa Clauses who were employed in the stores and commercial centres. However, this Christmas was destined to be a Christmas like no other. “Are you staying up for the end of the world?” my children asked me as I picked them up in the car and drove them to my house for the regular weekend visit. “ I don't think so.” I replied, being a person of regular habits. “Let me know what has happened in the morning!”
And so it was. People around the world waited in anticipation of the great world-shaking event, scanning the skies and gluing themselves to the television, staggering out of the bars, dancing in the streets and falling in the fountains. But I went to bed early on the night of December 21st, slept like a log and woke up to the sound of cocks crowing, heralding another new dawn for mankind. The sun rose in the east towards Malaga and another day dawned bright and clear........another day in Paradise.
Alan S. Jones
updated by @alan-stafford-jones: 02/13/16 12:46:50AM
