The beginning of the world

It's Friday evening, 12.21.2012, 7.53 PM CET and we're still online, people! This could be called a little miracle, because the world was about to end, today at 11.11 AM, local time. Somehow, we're still alive and kicking, although my father, when he came back from work, announced that some people have changed their minds and claimed that the world has a new opportunity to come to an end, which is tonight, at 9.25 PM. That means that we still have roughly one and a half hours to finish this post :)

I was quite confident about the Mayan calendar and its significance although, to be honest, I was glad that I was with my family in Belgium, and not all alone in the Netherlands. You never know, right? Still, I shouldn't have been worried at all, because as a christian I believe that the end of the world will only be near when - and if - God decides it. And I assume that God has other plans with this world - at least for now - so I'd like to interpret this special moment in time just as the descendants of the true Mayas: as a new beginning, for us and for our planet. A moment to start defending our planet and global human rights, a moment to start caring about each other instead of disdaining each other and being jealous because "the others" possess the things we'll probably never get (and who cares about material things anyway?)... 

I've had quite a good laugh when I heard about the Dutch guy that ordered a Russian submarine that he kept in his garden, just to be sure that he would survive the coming floods. However, the number one of all top stories of surviving the supposed end of the world was the story about the Bugarach mountain in France, out of which a UFO would arise which would comprise about 125,000 "earth-people". It turned out that there were actually more journalists on the mountain than so-called "earth-people" who were willing to travel with the aliens to another world. 

Different scenarios about the end of the world were created during the past months or even years. And all this fuss because of the Maya calendar that ends today. Of course, we've known about this date for years, and a few scenarios were even not too far-fetched. The theory about another planet, named Nibiru, that could collide with the Earth was even quite plausible, especially if you'd know how many asteroids there are out there in space... However, none of those poses a serious threat for the Earth at this moment, scientists have spotted them all and many telescopes worldwide keep an eye on those that sometimes cross the Earth's orbit.  

But let's turn back to the purpose of this post. Why not take this moment as a brand-new start for us and our planet, and especially for the relationship that exists between the two of us? How long have we, human beings, been destroying our planet stone by stone, tree by tree? How much longer can we go on using the Earth's resources without having to deal with the consequences of our uncontrolled behaviour? Isn't it time we turned to cleaner ways of consuming energy? I'm not much of a tree-hugging person myself, but I try to turn to accepted ecological methods whenever I can, although there is certainly room for improvement. 

Meanwhile, the clock has struck 10.30 PM and we're still here, broadcasting live from the city of Waregem, Belgium. Seems like all those believers were wrong after all ;) 

Anyway, it's also time we thought about defending human rights, as I wrote earlier in this post. I think every child on this planet, whether (s)he is born in Japan, Canada, Zimbabwe or the Netherlands, should have the right to go to school and to be a child. As I experience now with my two wonderful nieces, time flies and they grow relentlessly fast. That's why we should give them the time and the opportunities to be a child, and one of the characteristics of a child is that it needs to learn loads of things. Also, every human being on this planet has the right to be fed. I have to be honest, I have too many opportunities when it comes to food. I don't only have access to different kinds of bread and soft drinks, but I also have ice cream in the freezer and chocolate bars in my secret drawer. I go to the market twice a week to regale myself on delicious fruit. The latter aren't responsible for my overweight, but the former probably are. Anyway, it's ridiculous if you think how many people on this planet don't have half a loaf of bread to eat on a daily basis, including many children. I should be ashamed of myself, especially when it comes to the "emotional eating": I sometimes crave sweets and chocolate, especially when I feel depressed. Then nothing is safe, I'll eat it all, whereas many people in the southern hemisphere have no clue as to what sweets are. 

It's time that we changed our way of living, but I do plead guilty myself too. I'm too spoilt with all the luxuries I have, and I'm thankful to God for all the things he has provided.

It's getting late, I should get some sleep. It's been midnight, we are already the 22th of December and nothing has happened, so I suppose tomorrow will just be another day of thesis writing, family visits and Christmas shopping...