I recently saw a television commercial for a new show called "Revelations." I gather it is another in a long line of books and programs about the end of days. I wonder which advertiser is chomping at the bit to have their ad shown just after Americans see the Beast. My money is on depends or Volvo. Both help people deal with fear.
Americans seem preoccupied with the Armageddon. We have TV shows depicting biblical and secular ends with Satan, Meteors, Super Volcanoes and Aliens providing the final blow. We have cult groups and religious sects eagerly awaiting the end of days. Some of these groups are trying to hasten our approach to this supposedly inevitable end. Certain sects seek to derail the Arab/Israeli peace process because they claim that the book of Revelations indicates that the Jews will control all of biblical Israel prior to the end. For the secular folks, this lust for the apocalypse expresses itself in doom and gloom predictions regarding the environment, global political instability or tales of freakish acts. The talk goes beyond identifying a problem and seeking remedies, there seems to be a twisted hope that these nightmares will come to pass.
Could is be that we look forward to Jesus, the space rock, the terrorists, global warming or the aliens ending life as we know so we don't have to face something far more difficult than these phantoms? If the world is not going to end, then we must remedy all the problems in our
lives. Osama is not going to blow up my house, so my mortgage will still be due. The beast will not come and therefore, each day of my life I will wake up and be faced with the chore or the opportunity to begin to repair the damage done to me and by me. I will have to take
responsibility for my actions and for those done in my name. I will need to face my fears and accept my limits. That is scarier than comic book apocalyptic climaxes and so enthrall us. Perhaps it is also more empowering. I can't beat Satan, but I'm pretty sure I can learn to
live more fully and to treat others as I would like to be treated.
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Then again perhaps there is no Satan and no God as we would percieve and the most we can hope for is we teach, touch, tarry long enough and well enough to leave an indelible mark on the spinning thing we call home.
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