Wondering what 2012 will really bring

Get ready for a barrage of movies, television shows and magazine articles relating to the end of the world. According to some, the Maya calendar, which expires in 2012, is a predictor of global doom. Don't doubt for a second that Hollywood won't jump all over this far-out theory.

I don't believe the end of the world will come in one swift impact by an asteroid or an all-out nuclear exchange. I think the end days will come slowly, with different species going extinct and storms worsening and man's collective soul weakening. If you concur, then you might even speculate that the end times have already begun.

Of course, it's not as sexy to make a movie about something that might take thousands of years to play out.

I often wonder what the end will look like? Will it be a mass exodus of mankind? Or will we be taken one by one, act by act, in a methodical way? Perhaps the bees will disappear, then the vegetation. Or maybe we will just get tired of being tired. Lose our drive, until we no longer innovate. Without innovation, will we be able to conquer future pandemics or escape to other planets when the sun finally calls it quits?

We live in troubled economic times with people losing everything they have ever had, including a sense of themselves. With each loss - a job, a house, a loved one - comes a sense of things disappearing on us lately. Eventually, spirits are broken, which explains in part why there is so much depression in the world. One's life can only be dismantled so much before it become unrecognizable and impossible to rebuild. Some are able to remain positive through all of the darkness, but many are succumbing to the endless stream of bad news. I am hearing a lot of down voices of late.

I have bounced back from several tragedies in my life, but admittedly know that with each reconstruction comes an underlying loss of energy to rebuild again if need be. It's like asking folks in New Orleans to bounce back from five consecutive Katrina's. Yeah, we all treasure New Orleans as a unique American city, but at some point our will would be broken and we'd have to abandon the city if disasters kept occurring there. And when we do that we are, in a sense, at an end.

Some say that 2012 will only be the end of a certain phase of mankind and that we will enter a new age. If that's true, I say bring it on because what is happening now isn't working. Everything from global warming to uncontrolled greed is governing this planet. Heck, we're running out of drinking water and some believe there will be no more seafood in the oceans in 50 years. And these are fairly smart people predicting this stuff. So I would say we need a collective adjustment of our consciousness, not to mention our intellect, to extricate ourselves from the messes we're creating.

While the environment and collapsing economy get a lot of attention, I believe we are failing as a species in small ways that are equally troubling. Just in my lifetime I have seen a decay in the quality of life in this country. While technology has improved in areas such as health care, a decline in service has been abundant. Remember when doctors came to your house when you were sick and they weren't racing the clock to get to their next patient? Was kind of nice and reassuring, and might have even helped in the healing process. In fact, I'd sacrifice the fancy thermometers to go back to doctors making house calls.

Remember when there was a difference between Republicans and Democrats?

Remember when strangers made conversation while standing in line and didn't have a cellphones attached to their ears?

Remember when employers were loyal to good employees, which in turn created a vibrant economy? Wasn't that long ago that we actually manufactured stuff in this country.

Remember when substance scored more points than style?

There is a lot that I do hope goes extinct in 2012.

Veal, for instance, is a product we can do without. What a horrendous, over-the-top abuse of our dominance over animals. Where shall we draw the line when it comes to satisfying our every craving? In the minds of some, there are no lines. Of course, there is also a thing called karma.

The word "like" needs to be banned from the vocabulary of females under the age of 25. OK, by comparison to other problems, this one is fairly minor. But damn, have you heard how 16-year-old girls speak these days? I think it might take some realignment of the planets to solve this problem!

Realty TV needs to be less about trivial people and their idiotic problems and more about real issues such as putting an end to domestic violence, corporate greed and corrupt politicians.

I was watching an interview of a senior scientist the other night who was expressing his disappointment with our inability to cure cancer. According to this scientist, all the information we need to beat cancer is currently in our possession. The pieces to the puzzle are there. But because of the way research is at the mercy of big business (including drug companies, HMOs, etc.) and money is misspent on a host of unproductive ventures, it might be many more decades before a cure is available. Government, of course, isn't helping matters. It seems a cure for cancer is like anything else. Everyone with a title has a hand in the pot, so nothing truly ever gets done in a timely or efficient fashion. Maybe this too shall pass.

If 2012 doesn't lead to massive tidal waves and earthquakes, I do hope we can improve as a species and a culture. We've become too reliant on technology to solve our problems and are losing our connection to a more powerful source that lies within all of us. Science can help but it can't solve all of our problems, especially when science is profit-driven.

We've become too entitled. Our values are slipping to the point where the nuts often run the nuthouses (this is seen in workplaces, schools and other institutions) - where perceptions and instant gratification are more important than hard work and integrity. Those who are trying to make a difference are being crushed by the masses of people who just want to tune into Survivor and catch the latest sale at mall.

It's fun to watch a special-effects movie every now and then. The graphic eye-candy is quite astonishing. But I wonder if Hollywood would dare make a film that touches on what needs to change in 2012, if not sooner -- changes that don't involve exploding pyramids and bridges? I wonder if anyone would go watch a movie about spiritual transformation and heightened awareness? Or will these types of movies become extinct along with other art forms and societal values?

December of 2012, when some say the world will end, isn't that far off. Even closer, and more realistic, are personal catastrophes about to happen if we don't break this cycle of business as usual in this country. America is no longer top dog when it comes to influencing the global economy. China has passed us by while we were eating Cheetos and watching American Idol. We can't keep treating ourselves and each other like crap and expect things to work out.

I don't know if the Maya calendar has any meaning whatsoever, but I do have an increasing feeling that we've lost our way or are at the end of a journey. I don't think we necessarily need to go backwards. Instead, I think we need to reach higher, move forward, but in smarter ways. Can we do that, however, while being force fed things we don't really need in our lives? Can we become more technologically advanced and intellectually competetive while also nurturing our collective awareness of where we are on this planet?