If the modern day interpreters of the ancient Mayan customs are correct, this will be the last column I present to you.

According to some readings of the Mayan calendar, on December 21, the world is supposed to end. We will all be consumed by fire or drowned in water or simply evaporate into thin air. But I won't hesitate to bet that these interpretations will be proven incorrect - and that after next Friday, the world will still be ticking over - a non-stop roller coaster of routines and irregularities, of periods of both boredom and excitement.

I wasn't so sure before. When I interviewed a retired accountant living in Kentucky on the phone nine years ago, he told me as a bonus that he believed the US would soon degenerate in chaos, and that either a new world order would be created or we would all be destroyed.

To prepare for this, he had stuffed his basement with survival supplies, such as water and crackers and suggested I should do the same. "Especially when you live in those blue states," he said, referring to liberal thinking and voting fiefdoms like New York, which in his eyes, would be where the havoc began.

I was a new resident to the US and a fresh college graduate. I shared a small apartment with my landlord's family and had no place to stock supplies. But I did put all my important documents in a bag and studied the quickest way to get to the airport in case I needed to make a last-minute-escape back to China.

I have encountered various schools of disturbing thoughts from then on. There seems to be an increasing number of Americans who believe a conflagration is coming. It is no longer just a tiny lunatic fringe - why else would survivalist fiction and non-fiction programs on broadcast and cable TV have garnered an audience?

The vast majority of the doomsayers said that US President Barack Obama's election and then reelection could be triggers - but there are even a few who said his election loss would be a catalyst.

There are people who believe "World War III" is looming on the horizon, whether beginning in the Middle East or in East Asia.

There are, of course, conspiracy theorists who believe the White House was behind the September 11 attack and that the London subway terrorist attack was plotted at 10 Downing Street. There are people who believe China's economy is on the edge of an explosion. And, of course, there are always those who are looking for any sign - whether from pagan beliefs or from the Bible - that the end is nigh.

Every time these predictions get any media coverage, they can also help modest parts of the economy - be it the suppliers of simple emergency preparedness gear, the gunmakers, or the manufacturers of the top-of-the-range survival tools - such as underground bunkers and even boats that can be sold as makeshift arks. There are also a few lives ruins, such as the retired employee of the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York who spent his life savings of $140,000 to put out public alerts before the last Judgment Day came and went without incident on May 21 last year.   

To me these are at best horror stories for which I already know the ending. They are no longer scary. What remains terrifying is the distractions these ridiculous lunacies bring to the real issues the world is facing.

Since I came to New York in 2000, I've undergone real-life calamities like the 9/11 attack, the financial crisis, and extreme weather events like Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

Every time it felt like the end of the world was coming. But none of these had anything to do with any interpretations of ancient texts or calendars. They were all arguably ignited by the hatred, greed, recklessness and abusive nature of today's humanity.

Whether it be the willful ignorance of what we are doing to our own planet through global warming, our ability to dynamite the economic system, or simply the pure hatred we sometimes hold for each other, I ask isn't this a clear enough prophecy that the world could be destroyed by our own hands without the need for a Mayan apocalypse?   

The world has shown clear signs of aging, be it its melting glaciers or the inability of the financial system to cope with excess.

And there are no easy answers, as shown by the wrestling at the recent United Nations climate conference in Doha or the constant bickering at the G20 over global imbalances.

But we can all try to help a bit in our own way, starting on December 21 perhaps.

Forget about the end of the world. Work a little toward saving the current one - be nicer to the environment in a myriad of different ways, be nicer to your neighbors of whatever ethnic and religious background, and give as much as you take from the economic system.  

The author is a New York-based journalist. rong_xiaoqing@hotmail.com