Toward the near end of the year 2012, the doomsday scare had been the talk of town once again. As 2012 approached, the concern of the public has increased, prompting NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to publish statements that negate the catastrophic phenomenon that were said to occur on the looming end of the world. In fact, there had been several motion picture films that were produced and released, all illustrated what may happen to us, to the world, on that day. Unending war, bloodshed, destruction, famine, asteroid apocalypse, geomagnetic pole reversal, galactic alignment, killer solar flares, the winter solstice—all of these were predicted to occur on the doomsday.

Before our discussion gets further, let us review the origin of the end of the world prediction. Who predicted it?

When we speak of this phenomenon, several names and origins arise. There are The Revelations from the Bible, Sir Isaac Newton, Nostradamus, but the most controversial of all are the Mayans. It is because the Mayans had established a device that changed the perception of humanity on the past and future world events, and it was through this device that the concept of the end of the world came about. I am talking about the Mayan calendar. The ancient Mayans were recognized as part of an exceptional civilization of human history because of their distinct contributions in agriculture, arts, culture, and mathematical calculations, but it was due to their astronomical forecasts that people associate them with end of the world predictions, particularly when their Long Count calendar was studied and understood. According to the Mayan scholars, the Long Count calendar contains a life cycle of 5126 years, of which the beginning is dated August 11, 3114 B.C. and apparently, the end of one cycle in our present time is on December 21, 2012 A.D. This computation has been translated from the authentic five positions of the Mayan Long Count calendar to the Gregorian calendar, which we are currently using and most familiar with. The December 21, 2012 end of the world prediction heightens global attention not only because of its impending date but also because of the changes that are happening in our world today—devastating natural calamities, manifestations of global warming, nonstop political turmoil, and unrelenting crimes.  It seems that people are not really concerned about what day does the Mayan Calendar end because knowing the specific date is more than enough to be anxious about. In case you want to know, the end of the world according to the Mayans will fall on a Friday, December 21, 2012. I stumbled upon several websites that have a countdown clock to remind the public of its coming.

I personally find those tactics absurd, but the belief on this phenomenon still varies for every individual. What do you believe in?