12/21/2012 Essay

Ryan Derrig
Professor McCook
ENGL110-23
4 April 2011

Will You Remember in Two Decembers

Imagine an epidemic lethal enough to wipeout millions of people across the planet within days, widespread war between conflicting nations and famine striking down causing sharp decreases in populations of both humans and animals.   Imagine natural disasters large enough to knock out entire cities in the blink of an eye and a shift in the orientation of the Earth’s axis, causing worldwide disaster.   Imagine the apocalypse coming to fruition.   Considering many events just like these, it is not really hard to imagine the world actually coming to an end is it?   Due to the high frequency in which these events have occurred recently, much cause for concern has spread throughout the general public.   At first, prophecies dating as far back as 6th century B.C. that depicted these types of scenarios were considered hoaxes and conspiracies.   However, as more and more of them seem to be coming true, there might be reason to believe these are not conspiracies after all.   Even more scary is that while there have always been religious-based prophecies with very little evidence to fully believe in, scientists and astronomers have recently uncovered scientific evidence that supports these prophecies.   Although it is difficult to comprehend and hard to have confidence in, there may be reason to believe that the world may come to an end by December 21, 2012.  
The most common and well known prophecy predicting the apocalypse is that of the Mayan calendar.   This calendar is more complex and accurate than the ones used today.   It has already correctly predicted many events, mostly related to astronomy, including the exact dates of many solar eclipses (Decoding the Past).   It has even predicted the exact date that Hernán Cortés and his men would arrive in Mexico and invade their villages (Decoding the Past).   The most fascinating thing about the calendar, however, is that it ends on...