On the end

Imagine: The Statue of Liberty buried in snow, or crushed by a meteor

Why do they always target New York City in apocalyptic movies anyway?

I busied myself this afternoon with History channel.

And since it's nearing 2012 (they say even that date's been debunked) our love affair with the end has taken on a more logical turn.

You've got scientists leafing through the bible, conspiracy theorists, professors, writers, even ordinary people speculating about the end of the world and it seems like everyone's partial to playing God.

I myself have a love affair with the end. It interests me so much that I really sit through all those documentaries. The Nostradamus Effect has got to be my favorite. It gives you practically a lecture on everything related to prophecies of the end and this afternoon, they checked out The Book of Revelations.

It scared me out of my own skin and after today, I'd never look at business men the same way again. It's a joke. They (meaning producers of shows like these) have these stereotypes of the said Anti-Christ and the False Prophet looking like head honchos of multi-billion dollar companies and it's funny. I guess they think that these two symbolic figures would show up wearing suits and silk ties and ruling over the world right before the "scary" Jesus comes out to save us. The book of Revelations also told of a different kind of Christ (the scary kind) that would, supposedly descend from the heavens on a white horse, his eyes red like flames, his robe drenched in blood and a sword coming out of his mouth. Not the Jesus I want to see saving us in the end. This was the Jesus who would save the good from the bad. On Earth too would be the final showdown of good and evil, where the Anti-Christ would come face-to-face with Jesus himself. You could just imagine the army of God all shiny and strong and I swear, it looks like a painting that may be existing or not.

There were also all these natural calamities that would bring us to the climax of the end, like scary earthquakes, monstrous rains, a volcano eruption (look up Yellowsone Caldera) so devastating, it'll rob us off sunlight and wrap our skies in heavy ashes and would cause a said major climate change.Wherever we are, these signs would affect everybody and the documentary mentioned that by the climax of these terminal events, more than half of the world's population would've been wiped out to even witness the last battle set somewhere in the middle East. These are all speculations and theories of people who have studied these prophecies, trying to piece together a logical possibility or picture of what the end would look like.

It is scary. Scary enough that you'd probably never want to sleep again cause you're heavy on paranoia, ESPECIALLY when you watch the news and check out what's happening to our world. Imagine, all of the world and everything we know gone in a slow, painful series of events that would lead to the end. No more Paris, no more statue of Liberty, no more beautiful Philippine Islands, no more Russia, no more Brazil, Africa. No more everything. And if we've been good enough, we are to find salvation.

Everytime I watch shows like this or listen to stories of the end, I could not help but wonder, why would God put an end to all this when he created it so beautifully? And in the first place, why create something only to put it to ruins... They say it's all about love. And how all good things come to an end. These kinds of questions sort of takes you out of yourself and inside a world where there are billions and billions more of questioning souls, just like you, who suddenly have lost interest in themselves and are faced with the "bigger picture". But isn't it sad to think that we always put the world to an end in such horrifying ways? I know the bible says it and other prophecies too, but I want to believe that we're stronger than this. That the human soul is far more beautiful than anything ever created and that maybe, if we look at the world, life and the times differently, the end will be different, hopefully, not ever come.

When you do check out the news and watch the end of days on TV, you couldn't avoid but feel so helpless and pathetic and angry. But that's basically why we're such amazing beings, because we always are free to rise from it all and see the best in things. I know the world will end, I just don't know when. And since I couldn't do anything about that, the best I could do is marvel and contemplate on the beauty of the world...there are so many things, that I realize, I take for granted or make fun of that are deserving of contemplation. I'd also love more, even when it's impossible to love in certain circumstances. Besides, isn't that the end-all be-all of life? Or better yet, try and be someone meaningful, not only to myself but to others, that would help change this world into something better, something worth saving instead of ending.

Right?

So help us God.

-Gerard