Archive for the ‘Popular culture’ category

Chilean Miners

October 13th, 2010

What an incredible story. First, the Chilean miners are trapped in a cave in. Bad enough. Then, it’s 17 days before they’re found. Can you imagine the unfathomable fear and anxiety?

After that, they were told there’d be no rescue until Christmas. The mine collapsed on August 5th. So they’re thinking, “5 months cooped up in a dark cave, and a rescue of this type has never occurred before?” Some of us give up hope when we can’t get a dinner reservation. Yet, these guys didn’t. It’s been a story of faith, strength and endurance.

Oh, they had their fearsome, black moments, no doubt. But watching these guys come up, hearing about their solidarity (apparently there was no shortage of volunteers to be rescued last) … it’s been one of the greatest events I’ve ever witnessed.

From dark terror to hope fulfilled. Most of us live in between those extremes, and should be glad about that. But we all have experienced our own crises. The example set by these miners is one to remember. Their faith literally carried them through the storm. It’s a story that’s captured the attention of the world, and for good reason — it’s a story that shows the best of the human spirit in the worst of situations.

Ask a Mayan – will the world end in 2012? The answer …

October 12th, 2009

No. One problem with 24 hour TV and the Internet is that there’s so much space to fill. Thus, falsehoods like the world ending on December 21, 2012, get talked about way more than they should.

A story in the San Francisco Examiner debunks the rumor.  Apolinario Chile Pixtun, a Mayan Indian elder, insists the world is “definitely not” coming to an end.  “I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff,” he said.

The fact is, the world will not end in 2012, according to the Mayan calendar. Some Mayan calendars have the date “4772.” Maybe 2012 was backed by the Mayan version of CNN, while 4772 was backed by their version of FoxNews?

The artifact that introduced all the hand wringing was barely discovered (it was almost paved over with a lot of other artifacts) and is damaged so badly as to be unreadable to a large degree.

And if you ask your average Mayan about the world ending in 2012, they’ll likely give you a quizzical look, and go about their day – their day right now, not their day over two years from now. Now that’s some ancient wisdom we can all use. Today’s got enough stuff to think about, so don’t waste your precious time living in some imagined event in 2012. All that worry might prevent you from seeing the joys that exist in the hear and now.

Find full story here …