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It's Xmas eve here and it's been a hot sweltering day on between 25-35 degrees C. I mowed the lawn this morning and did an odd round of last minute shopping (mostly a mixture of household cleaners, lactose free dark chocolates and the odd bottle of alcohol). On Facebook (where I pretend to be one of my Second Life avatars) a quarter of the people on my friend's list seem to be militant atheists and another quarter practising Christians or Pagans. It always amuses me to see some re-posted image "debunking" religion followed by a "Share if you love Jesus" post.
Sometimes the hysteria on Facebook is palpable. Recently the panic over 21st December 2012 being the "end of the World" had a strange mix of responses. Most were humorous, some were attempts of disproving it, and sometimes accepting it. My own researches showed that it was yet another "new-age misinterpretation". Most of the accounts - coming it seemed from news reports with no sources - presented it as a prediction by a dead people. And yet that was one of many mistakes or lies. There are Mayans still living in Central America who held wildly different interpretations of the end of one cycle and the start of another. And yesterday I read that the Zapatistas in Mexico are in fact Mayan, and looking and working towards social change, rather than an abrupt catastrophe.
Which makes me wonder exactly where that idea came from. I was suggested that the people who were attempting to interpret it had a Christian bias - projecting ideas of apocalypse onto something that was nothing of the sort. Others took it as yet another example of Western culture ripping off Indigenous culture and ideas (and getting them horribly wrong). One source said that "originally" the date had been the 23rd (heh - it's now the 24th here) but that it'd been changed to match the Solstice. Even our Prime Minister Julia Gillard got into the act, making a spoof video for TripleJ, supporting an Apocalypse a couple of weeks earlier!
And I have to wonder why so many people got so worked up over this, why it seemed that they almost WANTED the world to end. Could it be that modern society - convenient as it is - is just so frustrating and stressful at times? Certainly around Xmas this seems the case. Every shop here seems to play White Xmas even though it's the middle of Summer here (when I grew up we had Xmas lunch and dinners that seemed more appropriate for England). People rush about to meet their social obligations or buy supplies as if they were going into a bunker for a month. And yet this time around that's mostly not been the case here. No mad crush of shoppers today and the traffic seemed less than expected.
And yet life goes on, for most.
My cat Ebony was attacked by a dog a couple of months ago and died in a drain where I couldn't retrieve her. At the start of the year I had a feeling I was going to lose a pet, but gain one as well, in December, and I did. When Ebony died it was sudden and shocking. When a fiend phoned in early December and asked if I was interested in taking on a dog, I know that I would and it'd be the right dog. So far that's right. Theo is an 8 year old Maltese whose owner's gone into hospice, and this mirrors Bobby, who came to me when Jenny went into a nursing home and couldn't look after home. Theo barks a bit but he fits in well with Bobby and the two surviving cats. Even if it had been the end of the world I still would have taken Theo on.
All of which makes me think that people who prophesize the End of the World have got it backwards. Survival is one thing, being able to share your life in meaningful or real ways is another. This period, whether based around Xmas, the middle of Winter, or whatever, has become a pause in that busy experience of life we often have. Take the time to cherish what you believe in and who or what you have in your life that helps make it worth living.
Happy Holidays.
Sometimes the hysteria on Facebook is palpable. Recently the panic over 21st December 2012 being the "end of the World" had a strange mix of responses. Most were humorous, some were attempts of disproving it, and sometimes accepting it. My own researches showed that it was yet another "new-age misinterpretation". Most of the accounts - coming it seemed from news reports with no sources - presented it as a prediction by a dead people. And yet that was one of many mistakes or lies. There are Mayans still living in Central America who held wildly different interpretations of the end of one cycle and the start of another. And yesterday I read that the Zapatistas in Mexico are in fact Mayan, and looking and working towards social change, rather than an abrupt catastrophe.
Which makes me wonder exactly where that idea came from. I was suggested that the people who were attempting to interpret it had a Christian bias - projecting ideas of apocalypse onto something that was nothing of the sort. Others took it as yet another example of Western culture ripping off Indigenous culture and ideas (and getting them horribly wrong). One source said that "originally" the date had been the 23rd (heh - it's now the 24th here) but that it'd been changed to match the Solstice. Even our Prime Minister Julia Gillard got into the act, making a spoof video for TripleJ, supporting an Apocalypse a couple of weeks earlier!
And I have to wonder why so many people got so worked up over this, why it seemed that they almost WANTED the world to end. Could it be that modern society - convenient as it is - is just so frustrating and stressful at times? Certainly around Xmas this seems the case. Every shop here seems to play White Xmas even though it's the middle of Summer here (when I grew up we had Xmas lunch and dinners that seemed more appropriate for England). People rush about to meet their social obligations or buy supplies as if they were going into a bunker for a month. And yet this time around that's mostly not been the case here. No mad crush of shoppers today and the traffic seemed less than expected.
And yet life goes on, for most.
My cat Ebony was attacked by a dog a couple of months ago and died in a drain where I couldn't retrieve her. At the start of the year I had a feeling I was going to lose a pet, but gain one as well, in December, and I did. When Ebony died it was sudden and shocking. When a fiend phoned in early December and asked if I was interested in taking on a dog, I know that I would and it'd be the right dog. So far that's right. Theo is an 8 year old Maltese whose owner's gone into hospice, and this mirrors Bobby, who came to me when Jenny went into a nursing home and couldn't look after home. Theo barks a bit but he fits in well with Bobby and the two surviving cats. Even if it had been the end of the world I still would have taken Theo on.
All of which makes me think that people who prophesize the End of the World have got it backwards. Survival is one thing, being able to share your life in meaningful or real ways is another. This period, whether based around Xmas, the middle of Winter, or whatever, has become a pause in that busy experience of life we often have. Take the time to cherish what you believe in and who or what you have in your life that helps make it worth living.
Happy Holidays.
