If you’re on this site, there is no doubt that you have heard that Mayan prophesy predicts something happening in 2012. Their Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is the basis for a New Age belief that a cataclysm will take place on December 21, 2012.

Robert from survive2012.com says:

The Long Count Calendar of the Ancient Mayans ends on Dec 21 2012. There isn’t much information regarding what the Mayans thought would occur in 2012, but the consensus of opinion is that there will be great change. To some people this means a positive, spiritual change. Others, like myself, consider that a catastrophic event may have been predicted.

While we all would hope for the day to simply pass and life to continue as normal, it never hurts to be informed. If something big does happen on December 21st 2012, I would rather not be the one saying “Why didn’t somebody warn us?”. I think of it as similar to Pascal’s Wager:

Pascal’s Wager (or Pascal’s Gambit) is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal that even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose.

I would prefer to be prepared, cautious,  and have nothing happen, than to be completely ignorant of the theories surrounding 2012 and have disaster strike. There are websites popping up all over the internet with survival guides, how to prepare, how to live off the land, and other things that may be useful in a post apocalyptic world. It’s my position that one would be foolish to simply ignore this information, as it is still relevant in every day scenarios such as tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes, not to mention less likely (but still possible) scenarios such as electricity blackouts or war.

What does one have to lose by learning basic first aid, and which plants can be eaten without killing you? Instead of sitting there mindlessly watching videos of cats chasing laser pointers on youtube, why not learn something useful?

Maybe the Mayans are wrong, and maybe the theorists are not interpreting the calendar correctly. Either way, “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of remorse”.