The most anxiety about a nuclear war starting was in1953 when the United States and the Soviet Union tested thermonuclear devices within nine months of each other. Today is just as worrisome as it was back then.
The Doomsday clock, which represents the hypothetical global catastrophe as “midnight”, is now again the smallest-ever number of minutes to twelve o’clock — that being just two minutes. The largest gap was 17 in 1991 (the end of the cold war). Since 2007 the clock has also reflected climate change. Some people believe that, “the nuclear bomb should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, since it scared the major powers away from declaring war by equating it with doomsday.” However, it’s important to note that this is a warning, not a prediction.
Doomsday can even strike in romance. There are many reasons why romantic couples’ relationships are doomed. In this day and age, social networking is one of the problems, which add to the stress and difficulties of the relationship. If you tend to be jealous and untrusting, or overuse social media it could make things worse. ‘Who is texting him or who is she emailing and so on’, thus creating a significant rise in divorce rates over the past decade.
There are other doomsday scenarios too, like in my case when I was in my 20s and invited to dinner by a lovely girl with beautiful, long, black hair. I arrived at her apartment and was intrigued to see a low table set up for a fondue –pots already warming and numerous candles on the table to increase the ambience. We soon knelt on the floor to eat with only the candles providing the lighting. It was romantic but I being in such an awkward position, became unbalanced. She bent over to help. Her beautiful hair, too close to a candle, went up in flames. She screamed blue murder and raced for the kitchen-sink faucet. I followed to offer help but she screamed at me, “Get out of my apartment right now.” I made a hasty exit. Could my clumsiness have doomed this relationship from the start? Maybe! We never met again.
There has always been decent doomsday business in predicting the end of the world, usually defined by supernatural prophecies. In the wake of a failed prophecy, a leader could always deny that he ever made that prediction or insist that he said something else. Alternatively, failed prophecies may conveniently be postponed to a later date.
Then there are those who make it their business to equip themselves for a civilization-ending mega-disaster, also known as “preppers”, sometimes stereotyped as wild-eyed tinfoil hat wearers who live outside of society as survivalists. Their fears are backed up by money and they don’t live on the same scale as ordinary people — why should that change after the end of the world? Life in a post-apocalyptic world will not be easy – devoid of any humour whatsoever, yet crucial for the psychological well-being of survivors to cultivate a sense of humour.
Even in the career of a sales person about to lose a prospect – it is better to shut a potential customer down early because chasing a client unlikely to buy will doom the sales person to have more expenses racked up, not to mention the opportunity cost of lost time spent on more profitable deals that might be closed.
Hopelessness is another state that feels like doomsday. This powerful emotion adversely affects how one perceives itself, sees others and even the world with no expectation of improvement.
The clock has now reached the hour of midnight on sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace. The “Time’s Up” movement will should make certain of that. If that doesn’t do it, the Weinstein effect and #MeToo will.
We can assume that the moon will continue to go around the earth until the end of time but when we say, “I will love him or her until the end of time,” that’s hardly a guarantee. As for me, “I will be around until hell freezes over!”
