If The World Ends Tomorrow

Well, it's a little after 6:00 p.m. Central Standard Time on December 20, 2012. If the doomsayers are correct, the world only has a few more hours to go. How should I spend these last hours. What last words should I leave? Who would see them? Well, here goes...

If I could do anything I want with my last hours, I would spend it with those I love. Not all of them are here with me. If I truly believed the world was coming to an end, I would gather them all around me. Would I use the time to make amends? Ask forgiveness for past wrongs? Get the answers to questions I've longed to ask? No. I would just enjoy being with them. Why waste our last precious hours with recriminations and regrets?

If I could leave a time capsule with some things that represented my life here on earth here is what would be in it: pictures of my loved ones, a couple of index cards with my favorite recipes, some fur that I've combed and saved from my cats, a couple of well-read books and the brass Shabbat candlesticks that have been passed down from mother to daughter through five generations of my family.

What would I tell these future archaeologists about this world of ours? Yes, there was war and famine and anguish. People went hungry and horrible deeds were committed in the name of science, religion and greed. We never came close to achieving world peace, learning to live within our means or even finding the cure for the common cold. On the other hand, we created great works of art, beautiful music and fascinating literature. We built great cities, plumbed the depths of the earth and explored the stars. Technology allowed us to reach far beyond our physical limitations. We stared into our souls and tried to understand the nature of our existence.

If I could leave some words of wisdom to whoever discovers my relics, I would tell them that despite all the problems that our world had, it was still a beautiful and magical place. Love may not have conquered all, but it covered a lot. Interpersonal relationships, messy and complicated as they are, formed the net around which we built our lives.

What I am really afraid of is that these visitors from a distant planet will find bobble-head dolls in the wreckage and think they were religious idols, believe that our culture was dominated by a strange, mutated race called the Kardashians and that our main goals in life were to be richer, thinner and have more hair. Oh well, it could be worse.

See you on the flip side....or will I?