APPROACHING ARMAGEDDON . . . NOT!

I recently watched Seeking a Friend for the End of the World with Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. I highly recommend the film, which is not maudlin and depressing, but funny and poignant without being silly and sappy.

A scene of a bunker filled with would-be survivors – earth is about to be hit by a 70-mile wide asteroid – triggered thoughts of the preppers and survivalists gathering their goods together to protect themselves from the coming Apocalypse/Armageddon/End of Days/a black starting his second term in the White House…you know, whatever. It’s no secret that these guys are narcissists, fantasizing themselves as leaders of the new world after God-knows-what obliterates the current one. Rather than continue living as nobodies, they’ll emerge as a winner, the guy-with-the-plan to lead survivors.

The reality would probably be different. The first time they flexed their macho muscles and started ordering other people around, some belligerent mook will a) kick their butt, b) send them packing with their tail between their legs or c) ventilate their head with a couple of well-placed shots.

Still, with this being the much anticipated December 2012, there must be a great deal of quivering and quaking as the preppers prep for the New World Order!

So, okay, let ‘em buy their gas masks and extra ammo, their freeze dried steaks and potato flakes, the rest of us will muddle on because even with the threat of chemical weapons in Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood offering religious repression in Egypt, Black Friday specials available until Christmas Eve, we anticipate 2013 as another year of progress and hope.