Many people believed the end of the world would come on December 21, 2012, the date that marked the end of the Mayan calendar. That date has come and gone, and I can’t help but wonder what all the die-hard Mayan Apocalypse believers are thinking now.
There were two general ways of thinking about how this end would come: it would either be a horrific doomsday scenario that would be the end of all life as we know it, or it would mark the beginning of a new age of human enlightenment and responsibility.
One idea dwelt on the negative, the other positive.
So since the world didn’t end, where does that leave us now?
Since several days have passed and still no apocalypse in sight, I’d like to make a proposition to you, the person reading this, and to myself as well. I propose that you and I abandon all ideologies that promote fear, anger, hatred, and ridicule. Instead, let’s make a daily, conscious decision to live both our lives as positive and loving as we can be.
And how can we do this? There are two things that we must remember and embrace with the core of our being.
My high school track coach, Mr. Tintle, instilled in me one of the basic tenets of my being that I hold to this day. That is, one must have PMA, short for Positive Mental Attitude. With a positive mental attitude, you can achieve the impossible.
My other basic tenet is I live by the Golden Rule. I try not to do anything to anyone that I wouldn’t want done to myself. It’s that simple.
Keeping a Positive Mental Attitude and following the Golden Rule.
Adopt it. Embrace it. Teach it to your kids.
And with these two tenets in mind, I’d like to make a call to action to you and myself as well. Let’s do something in the world today, right now, that will make a positive difference. I’m writing an open letter to the world, now it’s your turn. What will you do?
Want to fight global warming and climate change? Plant a tree in your backyard. Can’t stand the partisanship that has taken over politics? Turn off the news and volunteer in your township. Upset about kids shooting other kids? Become a Big Brother or Big Sister to a troubled child… or simply a high school track coach.
The point I’m trying to make is, no matter how big the problems of our world seem to be… no matter what the difficulties we face… even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant action we take can make all the difference in the world.
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To the Mayans a Baktun was a measurement of time lasting approximately 400 years. December 21, 2012 marked the end of the 13th Baktun on the Mayan calendar, and the beginning of a new one. Descendants of the Mayans never believed the world was going to end on that date; instead, they look at the 14th Baktun as a period of hope and change.
So as we begin another year and another Baktun, I’d like to propose not just a new year’s resolution, but a “New Baktun Resolution” we all can adopt (after all, the next one won’t be for another 400 years). Let’s take this opportunity to leave all the hatred, negativity and baggage the human race has been carrying around with us for all the millennia we’ve walked this great earth and leave it in the past. Let’s take control of our destiny and stop living in fear. Let us start the new Bakun as a loving, more mature, and enlightened human race.
Not the end of the world, but the beginning of a new one.
In the midst of the big holiday season there’s nothing like giving a little thought to the end of the world. While wars, pestilence, disease, and alien invasion are still the favorite stories, there is a danger lurking out there that we can’t really do anything about.
