The Normalcy Bias‏

What if the Mayans were right?

Based on the normalcy bias, we don't dare ask this question.  We simply make jokes and brush that magical date of 12/21/12 off as just another day.

The normalcy bias is the reason why people laugh at those who claim we are in the last days.  It is the reason the people of the South were not prepared for Hurricane Katrina despite ample warnings to be so.  It is the same reason why people refuse to recognize the impending and inevitable economic collapse of our country. 

The normalcy bias is why the people of Germany handed their freedoms over to Hitler and cheered him on as he invaded all of Europe.


"The normalcy bias refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects.  The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur.  People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation" -Wikipedia


Despite all the obvious signs that things will be getting worse and not better, we, as people, prefer to live in our little bubbles insulated by the technical advances of the last few years.

What gets me is how we all live in the contemporary.  If we haven't personally witnessed something or experienced it, we don't believe that event or that something could have existed.

We look at a picture of a starving child in Africa and empathetically mourn for them.  Briefly.  Then mere hours later, we are lamenting our own hunger because dinner won't be ready in time.

No one believes that one day they could be that starving child in Africa.

The Mayans are not right about 2012 but they are close to the truth.  This world, your home, my life will be considerably different in 12 months.  Just like last year at this time.

I want a child.  Odds are I will never be a father.  I do not nor can I imagine how it is to raise a child in today's world.  I don't even know if it's fair to do.  I toss this dilemma around in my head nightly.

But something happens.  Something... and it never fails.  In fact, it happened just two hours ago.

Standing in my driveway with the neighborhood stray cat rubbing up against me, the next door kid walks up to me.  He smiles.  Bends down to pet the damn cat.  Stands back up.and stares at me awkwardly.  Then as beautiful as anything on God's earth, he says, "my dad hates cats so please don't tell him I just petted yours".

"It'll be our secret and you can pet him anytime.  He doesn't have an owner", I replied.

As quick as a 6 year old can be, the boy stated with such certainty, "me neither."

Man, kids are the reason the Mayans are wrong.

Kids haven't experienced anything.  They see the world through unjaded eyes.  This world is a blank canvas to them and they paint it exactly how they want it to be.  It is why when children color they make purple suns, stick figures with disjointed limbs, and yellow grass.

This is their world to paint, to mold... to perfect.

There is so much hope out there.  So much beauty.

I am prepared for a terrible year.  I suspect one year from now that many lives will be in absolute chaos.  Just like last year.

But the good news is no one owns us.  Our free will can never be stolen from us.  We can paint our worlds any color we choose.

And when those floods come ravaging through our lives, we can sit atop our rooftops pointing fingers and screaming words of anger or we can patiently wait for the waters to ebb and become stronger for it.