December 21, 2012 marks the end of the Mayan calendar and, supposedly, the end of the world. At school, it has been in everyone’s head ever since the 2012 Homecoming Dance theme of “Dance like It’s the End of the World.” So now, after all of us have lived up to our “last” homecoming night, we wonder, is it really the beginning of the end?
Senior Gabriella Eraci thinks so. She tells her fellow students, “We must live this year like it is our last year!” However, fellow student Rachel Pellegrino does not think so. She states, “People have made predictions about this kind of thing for so many years, and it has never been right.” Junior Tyler Tobin agrees, “The whole concept is just hype and fake. There is no real evidence.”
However, there may be some evidence. This Doomsday panic is based largely on the fact that the Mayan Calendar ends on the date December 21st, 2012. Contrary to the common belief, however, the Mayan Calendar continues after the year 2012. Just as our calendar begins a new cycle on January 1, 2013, the Mayan calendar also begins a new cycle in the year 2013. Additionally, those who still believe in the myth must consider that the Mayans did not take into account leap years, so the end of the world would have already happened years ago.
Still, others feel that if the world is not going to end, the date must have some other strange significance, such as a date of natural disasters or galatic invasions. However, experts like National Geographic and NASA think not. Regarding one of the many myths that the Earth’s crust will rapidly dismantle, throwing thousands of cities into the sea, National Geopgraphic asserts that this is very unlikely. Continent shifting takes millions of years, and has limited impacts on humanity. Meanwhile NASA, in response to the growing interest in apocalyptic destruction, has affirmed that there is no eminent galactic threat (such as an asteroid) bound for Earth in 2012. Additionally, they have confirmed that it is not possible for a reverse in the Earth’s rotation (in reference to the theory that December 21st, 2012 is that date when the poles of the planet will shift hurtling everything into space).
With so many people saying the Apocalypse is near, and others saying there is no need to worry, how does one know for sure? The truth is it isn’t possible to know for certain. Humanity is no closer to predicting the end of the world than they are in predicting Jesus’ second coming.
