How Close is the End of the World?

Our world is in peril. An economy falling, disasters on the rise, terror around every corner! The End is near... or is it? For the past few years we have heard more and more accounts about how the world is going to end then at any other point in our lifetimes. With the threat of terrorist attacks looming overhead, global warming on our minds, and a supposed unstable economy no wonder dooms day seems to be drawing ever closer. However is it really as bad as the media and fanatics make it out to be?

Our economic situation seems precarious to say the last, but how can that be? Job opportunities are on the rise, Wall Street is booming and the DOW, NASDAQ and the S&P all have been on a steady incline for the past year. More people are taking vacations, and spending times of leisure. The major theme parks and hotels around America are all reporting higher then average income per annual quarter. So all this together seems to be pointing towards a stronger economy then ever before.

After the invent of nuclear technology an organization compiled of those who had helped usher in the nuclear age formed a magazine entitled The Bulletin of Atomic Scientist. This coalition of men and woman came up with what is known as the Doomsday clock. This device is counting towards midnight and once it gets there, we as a race, will be wiped out. The clocks hands move according to trends in our world. During times of peace the hands move back, of war and threat they move forwards, currently the minuet hand stands at 11:55 five minuets to midnight.

This sounds very foreboding, but during the 1950's the clock was moved to 11:58 two minuets till midnight. For the past decade we have enjoyed an era of unrivaled peace and prosperity. There have been no world wars, and the threat of our countries destruction has been far from our minds. The Soviet threat was disbanded in the 1980's, so nuclear war no longer overshadowed the worlds other events. Since the Second World War, in the backs of our minds the fear of nuclear annihilation was so clear it was scary, and now there are so many laws, fail safes and organizations to stop this from ever happening.

True, we are in a war right now but we still have an all volunteer army. There is no draft in place like in the 1950' and 60's and we are making great strides to bring peace and order to a very unfortunate part of the world. 9/11 brought a new meaning of fear to us. Terrorist were the new bringers of the apocalypse, but since 9/11/2001 terror activity in the US has been shut down, overseas many organizations have fallen apart due to international cooperation, and overall except for in Iraq, terror attacks around the world have decreased sufficiently.

Global warming is a new cause for concern. Al Gore has made great strives to bring this to the attention to the world, and he's done a great job. Yes our environment is important, but things are getting better. The hole in the O-zone layer is receding according to some and the air we breathe is cleaner and more pollutant free then years past. Cleaner more cost efficient energy sources are being devised as you read this. Hydro electricity is noting more then water powering your homes, and new cars are already in the final testing phases that actually clean the air as they drive. We are moving into an age where oil and petroleum will be obsolete fuel sources.

Yes I know things in our world seem bad at times, but they always do. Every generation faces hardships, but we face easier trials then those of our grandparents. Life expectancy is double what it was one hundred years ago, the life we live is of luxury compared to the nomadic and precarious lifestyles of our forefathers, and we now have so much more time to sit back and bask in the glory of our world. Who knows what the future holds? I don't, but I do know that I will enjoy my life, family and friends for as long as I can, and I plan for that to be a long, long time.