just a few more years

In response to a recent request I wrote an essay on why I wanted to live longer. It was published, but I failed to disclose the real reason because it seemed too far out at the time. I announced that I wanted tolive longer because I was curious about the future...which is true....but I did not reveal the underlying factors that influenced my position. Now I think it should be told.

 

I am 86 years old....not many years left in this old carriage....but I want to live at least until the autumn of 2012, just five years away. According to the Mayan calendar we may experience a world shaking event, and I want to see it. The Mayans were advanced in math and astronomy far beyond science in that time. Their calendar was more accurate than even those we have today, and they had a mystic ability to see the future. In fact, they predicted the coming of the Spaniards, who decimated the land and people in the name of Christ.  The Mayan's written records were destroyed, but the

spanish failed to erase the language cut in stone. In later years scientists manage to decipher the Mayan language and we have learned that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. Nothing is enscribed after that date and we must ask why. Is 2012 the end of civilization? The 2000 year dynasty ended in a mystery. What happened to the Mayans and where did they go? Did their leaders seek a safer haven in some distant land, and if so, why?

 

When we look a pictures of the earth taken from space the Gulf of Mexico appears to be the remnants of a giant meteor that splashed into this planet eons ago. Could the Mayans have predicted that this will happen again? Our scientific research indicates that a huge meteor could strike this earth again at any time....one even larger than the one that hit Siberia some years ago. It could come without warning and strike with such velocity that the earth would be enveloped in a dense cover that would last for years, plunging us into darkness with sub-freezing temperatures. We have some evidence of this occurring in the past from mamonths found evidently flash-frozen with food still in their mouths. A meteor the size of a condo could lay down a timber line for 600 miles erasing everything in its path. Millions of lives could be lost if such an event occurred......and if it happens I want to see it, if only for a brief moment. It would be the highlight of my life, and death.

 

So just in case this happens, I want to prepare for the worst. I hope to move to the mountains of West Virginia and get a seat on the highest hilltop with a case of Bush's baked beans and a can opener, a few bottles of water and a some Jack Daniels. See you there!