One of my work colleagues talked to me about the world ending on a Friday in December in the next few years. She quickly reminded me of that cryptic date - 21st of December 2012 - that I've been reading across the internet, in Youtube, and in cross-linked articles in Wikipedia, and the upcoming movie this 13 November appropriately titled 2012. Does all this point to one thing?

Along the conversation, I told her, based on what I read, that there are a lot of scheduled and predicted events on that particular year. The list is quite long, but the most highlighted date is December 21. Here's what Wiki has to say:

The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization among others, completes a "great cycle" of thirteen b'ak'tuns (periods of 144,000 days each) since the mythical Creation date of the calendar's current era. On this day the Long Count date at creation—written 13.0.0.0.0 in modern notation, equivalent to August 11, 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar—is repeated for the first time in a span of a little over 5,125 solar years. The completion of this cycle and the repetition of the previous Creation's Long Count ending date have been central to various 2012 doomsday predictions since the 1960s. Academic researchers have not concluded that the ancient Maya themselves attached similar significance to this point in time.

What does this mean to us and why should we be bothered?

Basically, the Mayan calendar is going to reset itself on 21 December 2012, and that a lot of predictions have been centered on this date. While most of these predictions involve doomsday or the end of the world, some argue that this event will push us to a higher level of consciousness, or to the next level of evolution.

This year is also believed as the time when the Messiah will return, and usher in the Kingdom of God, and ultimately put an end to suffering and evil. This epic event is usually referred to by Christians, Muslims and Jews as the Armageddon, or the End of Days.

Some believe that at this point in time, a large planet called Nibiru will collide with the Earth and destroy civilization as we know it. Another part of this Nibiru prediction is that aliens will protect us, so we can "transit" to the next level of consciousness.

All this is just trivia, and not something to be taken very seriously. It does not hurt to look forward to something, but it's better to just be prepared for whatever comes our way. My friend told me that she will start to be good everyday so that when the time comes, she will go to heaven. Heck, isn't being good what we should be doing everyday in the first place?