The search team later recovered two notes at the crash site ...

If we only have three more years to live

How are we going to face the eventuality when the time has arrived? -Sin Chew Daily/ANN

Thu, Oct 08, 2009
Sin Chew Daily

If the Mayans have been right. And if some of the soothsaying scientists have also been right. Then the Earth will meet its doom in 2012. And the entire human race will be wiped out in three years' time.

This should be extremely fair. Be it old or young, rich or poor, pretty or commonplace, smart or mediocre, everyone will end the same way.

God must be such a wonderful Being for cracking such a joke!

The Hollywood blockbuster 2012 foretells the end of the planet. It also indicates that the US government has been told of this secret, but keeps concealing it in a bid to prevent premature commotion across the surface of the Earth.

Predicting death could have been the master of all tortures.

Just imagine. Inside the hearts of convicts awaiting the gallows. All the hopes have been dashed, and they can only wait for Death inching its way towards them.

Such a torment perhaps comes a hundred fold more afflicting than Death itself.

The mental state of humans may come tumbling down because of non-acceptance, and the society will be plunged into utter chaos.

This is a kind of spontaneous response. But there is also the likelihood of another kind of response.

When the Doomsday comes, all the many goals we have been pursuing are no longer important.

It doesn't also matter how much we have in our bank accounts. Does Li Ka-shing still need his billion-dollar estate anyway?

No one should worry about their liabilities, for the bankers and loan sharks may most likely not come after you.

The pains and illnesses we suffer are immaterial now: the ending is the same, only a matter of timing.

Promotions and increments are also meaningless; and foes need not be that spiteful seeing each other, either.

How are we going to face the eventuality when the time has arrived?

This has reminded me of a true story.

1985, a Japanese airliner with 524 people onboard took off from Tokyo for Osaka.

The plane exploded 45 minutes later. The doomed aircraft span around mid-air for five minutes before crashing.

During those five minutes, the passengers onboard were well aware of what was awaiting them.

What were they thinking of or doing then?

The search team later recovered two notes at the crash site. They were obviously the last words of two passengers.

One of them wrote: "My three children, you have to take care of your mum. The plane is on its way down and there's no more hope. I've been very happy this whole life. Thanks everyone!"

The other wrote: "Honey, take good very care of our kids!"

The closing moments in life could be a time to care for the loved ones, not just to lament our imminent passing.

The remaining five minutes were not for grumbling or hatred, but gratitude.

The termination of life could be heart-warming, not necessarily hair-raising.

Five minutes or three years, that duration could reflect how humanity looks at life.

Are the Mayans really that precise? Are the scientists over-pessimistic? Or are the soothsayers sounding too alarming?

Perhaps only God, or the President of the United States, knows.

If we only have three more years to live, we should be able to get a lot of enlightenment from it if we care to put on the thinking cap, including reassessment of the meaning of life, and that we should treat other people, as well as our planet, a little better.

(By TAY TIAN YAN/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)