What to Do When the World is Ending

If I knew the world would end this week, I’d propose to someone special.  If they said no, I’d keep proposing until somebody said yes.  I’d quit my job, then travel cross country seeing all of the people that I miss and all of the places I haven’t made it to yet.  If there’s still time after the U.S.A. I’d plunge down into Central America.  I’d try to speak Spanish again.  I’d sky dive.  I’d go streaking.  I’d drive really fast.  I’d do all the things that are often dismissed for being too risky or too time consuming or too expensive.  They are this way when you have time, but when that luxury is taken, other luxuries become available—the luxury of not needing to plan ahead.

If I knew it was all ending, I’d still write.  I’d still sing.  I’d still hike through the woods on sunny days and go for jogs on rainy ones.  I’d drink more coffee and less beer because I want to be alert for oblivion.  I’d still try to be friendly and helpful to all people.  I’d still read, though I might choose shorter works.  I’d keep doing all the things I already love because true love doesn’t change even when everything else does. 

And if a week passed and we were all still here—if two weeks, three weeks, a year go by and the world turns out to not be finished after all—I don’t think I’d be disappointed.  I wouldn’t be regretful.  The world would be intact, as would I, and those two facts alone are worth celebrating.  Plus there’d be pictures and memories: me in freefall, me in a sombrero, me hugging my best friend, us pushing my car to a service station, someone saying yes, someone saying thank you. Yep, I think things would be just fine.  I’d smile and pay my speeding tickets, then see about getting my job back.  I mean, hey, I only quit because the world was ending.  Surely they’d understand. 

But even if they didn’t, I’d be okay.  Because I’d still have skills and drive and integrity and the support of my loved ones.  And time.  Lots and lots of time. Yeah, if handled the right way, the end of the world is a win-win situation.

“But wait a minute!” you might say.  “You left out all the bad stuff that’ll happen.  If the world’s ending, people will go crazy.  They’ll throw off their inhibitions and start doing all this bad stuff because they know they won’t have to suffer the consequences, at least not for very long.   They’ll riot, rape, steal, and destroy.  They’ll destroy everything because it’s all going down anyway.  How will you do all that stuff you want to do when things are so dangerous?”  But that is not the world we live in.  I reject the idea of a world where everyone is just one step away from being a sociopath. 

Sure, some people might make that choice. But what if we don’t?  What if we choose not to reach for weapons?   What if those who were holding weapons put them down?  What if the time before the world ends is the most peaceful in human history?  Is it such a crazy thing to ask?  To just let go of conflict and enjoy the last week of existence?  And if this is a crazy thing to ask, what does that say about us? Are we so full of hate that we can’t wait a week for our enemies to die along with us?  They have to go now?  If this is our mindset, then we are deserving of destruction. 

This piece seems to have taken a turn towards the negative.  Things usually do when the world is ending.  Watch any disaster movie.  But the question I’m putting forth is: Why does it have to be that way?  The world is what we make of it.  That’s true now, and it’ll be true at the end.  So let’s make something good.