Self-evaluation over the past few days has led me to the conclusion that I need God more in my life than anything else. This observation came up after certain events and revelations, showing me what matters.
It came to no accident that I stumbled upon reading about the Y2K incident during my idle time last early Sunday morning as my shift came to an end. As we all know, the whole buzz about Y2K came about just before the year 2000 started, when it was feared that mainframes and all sorts of familiar systems would come into ruin as they would recognize 'January 1, 2000' as 'January 1, 1900' instead. The effects of this event seemed to be blown out of proportion, especially since the evening news did not necessary show nations in chaos when the clock struck twelve. Check that - the effects were either exaggerated or they were anticipated way earlier allowing time for action.
Anyway, while I read about all this, I discovered that as there was a Y2K problem, there was also a Y10k problem, or the issue of what happens after December 31, 9999. The fact that some people were worried about a problem that would happen long after they rot on this Earth made me chuckle a little bit louder than I usually would. However, after the laughing was over, I was a bit curious myself - if the universe was to exist for billions and billions of years after my last breath, what would happen?
Random searches on Google and Wikipedia led me to some interesting articles. For instance, according to the Wiki article entitled '11th millenium and beyond', some believe that between the years 600,000,000 to 3,500,000,000, "Slow but steady increase in solar luminosity will cause Earth's oceans to evaporate, leaving it inhospitable to life." There's more. "The Sun (would become) a red giant and any remaining life on Earth, and possibly Earth itself, (will be) destroyed" by the year 5,000,000,000. Damn.
One thing that really really got to me, though, was what I stumbled upon while I was reading all this: A short story by Isaac Asimov, entitled "The Last Question". Read the story here: I suggest you do, if you have 10-15 minutes to spare. It's been a while since a piece of fiction got my full attention.
All this reading and consequent speculation led me to thinking... and what I concluded was that if life was as how we see it, and if the universe was just created out of nowhere, then all our efforts as a civilization would eventually cease to exist. My efforts to make a difference would be futile as the earth would eventually die anyway - My photos, my relationships, all that I uphold as a human being, would mean nothing in the long, long, long run. All that we've fought for as a race, all that we've suffered for, would fade away; it would take a very long time, but it wouldn't take eternity for reality as we know it to cease to exist. Matter will eventually turn to the void that it was, and that line from that one song by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones would come into fruition: "Nothing comes from nothing."
That right there sounds like the ultimate achievement of the pure pessimist - to rationalize that nothing, NOTHING in this world counts for anything. I suppose that when a person comes to this realization, he or she would realize that there is nothing in this world to be happy about. Sure, there would probably be nothing to be sad about either, but with this sort of reasoning, you'd eventually dwell on what you do not have. I'm pretty sure that any sort of worldly motivation falls short of delivering true happiness and contentment. When one focuses on what he or she does not have, the feelings that come out would build up to frustration, leading to depression... And you can be sure that in this given scenario, this process of self-destruction can only go faster.
But praise God. Praise God, indeed. We have the option of dwelling on what we don't have, or to be thankful for what was given to us.
What, pray tell, is there to be thankful for, if everything we have will be nothing eventually? Rather, what is there left to do if all is for naught?
**To Be Continued.. God bless you**
**To Be Continued.. God bless you**