Or so the internet keeps telling me. Government officials, due to a rash of frightened emails and letters, have responded that the world is not going to end in a few days.
Which means I still have to go take final exams. *sigh* You would think if we were scheduling an apocalypse that far in advance, someone would have ensured they did it before finals week. I mean, who wants to admit they spent their last days cramming?
Not this kid.
I would rather say I spent my last days with my children. On a beach. In the sun.
(Who worries about sun damage to the skin when the end is nigh? Not this kid.)
But I've noticed that we're having the End of the World more frequently. I mean, back in the day, you only had the end of the world once a generation or so. This is what? Our second AT LEAST. I mean, we partied like it was 1999. We faced the Y2K bug. We've done this and none of us got a teeshirt.
Well, I didn't get a teeshirt. Maybe you did.
I guess the question this creates for me is...why is our generation so prone to believing the end is coming? Why are we waiting for fire to rain from the sky and zombies to steal our twinkies?
*moment of silence for the twinkies*
I think it's because, at the end of the day, the end of the world is easier to think about than endless Thursdays. If we view our lives as continuing on, just as they are, for the rest of our lives and ending in a nursing home, our generation has to deal with the fact we're getting older.
Generation X is becoming Generation somewhat wrinkled. We've gone from being the trend setters to borderline bed wetters. It's scary stuff.
Easier, then, to consider how we would cope with a zombie apocalypse or an ending Mayan calendar than how we'll deal with facing the middle aged faces that stare back at us in the mirror.
Perhaps it's a form of escapism? I know I don't want to live the rest of my Thursdays like this - bleh - so the world ending is kind of a fun thing to think about.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. It really is a form of escapism.
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