My particular generation was born in the mid-nineties. Meaning that between now and then, there have been some special dates. The turn of the century, 9/11/01, 6/6/06, 8/8/08, 11/11/11, and now the upcoming 12/21/12.
My first exposure to what I'm about to explain, I came across on Facebook. There's always these little groups you can join or like with fun (or stupid) categories, groups of people, quotes, etc. A few months ago, I had scene one that said, "I was alive on 11/11/11." The generic trend was to like if that also applied to you.
Well as I see it, people join because it's cool. I'm not going to lie, 11/11/11 is a pretty cool date. But does that make anything about that day special? NOPE. Many people liked this cliche Facebook fad, and it really started to bother me. At the time, 11/11/11 had only taken place on the previous week.
"So you were alive yesterday? Congratualations, I'm so proud of you! You are truly a hero."
No, I'm sorry, but the special day doesn't make you particularly special. I could definitely see generations from now, when you're old and have grandkids, then yes, you could say, "In the year 2011, I went to school on November 11th. That's pretty cool, isn't it?"
But really? You're celebrating life when some cool numbers line up. Celebrate life everyday, but don't get too big-headed about it.
"Oh, you were alive on 11/11/11? That's cool, so were seven billion other people. Still feel special?"
Now that's only part one to this post. Part two intiates now.
This part all started maybe a couple weeks ago. I was surfing Memebase (one of my new favorite sites, thanks to one of my friends) when I happened upon a lovely little meme.
Oh really? You survived all those daaangerous days when nothing catastrophic happened? You did? I'm so proud of you.
But seriously. There was a fear or superstition about all of these dates (Except for 11/11/11...as far as I know that is just supposed to be lucky?). The world could've ended in 2000. Y2k could've killed us all. 6/6/06 was the devil's day. 11/11/11 is a lot of ones (I still don't know how they perceived that to be dangerous...?), and now 2012 is when the Mayan calendar ends.
You are truly a warrior.
I couldn't resist that last bit of sarcasm. On a more straightforward note: NO, you didn't survive these days through any special reason. Because...*drumroll*....NOTHING HAPPENED! Yes, there is the chance that you could have died. You could choke on your lunch, get in a car accident, be a sideline victim of a horrible crime, and lose your life. But that could happen EVERYDAY. It's not special.
So MAYBE 2012 is special. In my personal opinion, I don't believe the world will end. And being alive this far into your life doesn't make you any more agile to potentially conquer the end of the world. You're stuck with the rest of us, oh humble human.
That was my rant. I hope you enjoyed it.
Haha. In my opinion, the Mayans all died before they finished. How do we know that when they stopped it meant the end of the world? Ridiculous.
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