As we all know, we are counting down to the end of the world, now less than two years away on December 21, 2012. (Don’t believe me? There’s a list of almost 40 non-fiction books at Amazon that beg to differ. Have you written a book? No? Then what makes you such an expert?)
Was it reasonable for us to expect that the end of the world would just happen without any warning signs? I don’t think so. Obviously there is going to be a dramatic lead-up. Do you not watch movies? There is always a dramatic lead in to the disaster.
In the past week, we have seen the beginning of the end: Animals dropping dead in large numbers. As discussed at Gizmodo:
Just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 red-winged blackbirds and starlings fell from the sky within a one-mile area over the town of Beebe, Arkansas. The last few days have also seen a mass fish kill, in which an estimated 100,000 drum fish washed up on a twenty-mile stretch near the town of Ozark, Arkansas, which is about 125 miles away from Beebe.And then, around 500 red-winged blackbirds, starlings, and grackles fell to their deaths over a quarter-mile stretch of highway near Labarre, Louisiana, which is 360 miles from Beebe and 450 from Ozark. And then last night, hundreds of what were most likely jackdaws fell to the ground all over Falköping, Sweden.
Crazy, right? Sure, the article goes on to say that ”there are perfectly rational explanations for all of this,” then proceeds to give explanations that may be possible, but are certainly not rational.
No, I don’t really believe that these are portents of the end of the world. What I do believe is that some things occur in this world that we do not yet have knowledge of or explanations for.
One of my favorite books is a brick of a hardcover called “The Complete Books of Charles Fort.” Fort, about a hundred years ago, spent almost every day for 30 years in the library combing through newspapers, pulling out stories of unexplained phenomena. Among these are accounts very similar to what has been experienced recently in Arkansas and Sweden, so these strange occurences are nothing new. Yet, we are no closer to having good, viable explanations for them.
Is it the end of the world? Probably not. Is it worth investigation? Absolutely.
I reserve the right to change my mind, though, if rivers suddenly turn to blood.
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4 comments
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Grant Hamilton says:
6 January 2011 at 2:24 pm (UTC -5)
I like Warren Kinsella’s take:
Brian says:
6 January 2011 at 3:54 pm (UTC -5)
If it really is the end, I’m a little disappointed; it would have been better timed if it had come a couple of years ago instead of now.
Colin says:
6 January 2011 at 4:41 pm (UTC -5)
Interesting that the most insanely virulent evangelical Christian region in the most insanely virulent evangelical Christian country is the place for a distinctly non-Christian, non-European religious prophecy to manifest itself.
T. Keith Edmunds says:
7 January 2011 at 6:08 pm (UTC -5)
Now it’s happening in Quebec.