The television drones on and on, its monotonous voice coaxing me to fall asleep. My attention span shortens and the channels are soon changing under my power. I channel-surf for a minute but stop to check the trusty TV Guide. Unfortunately my effort isn't finding much. A few news shows, an old movie, but then I watch "them." They are those sappy, the-world-is-going-to-end-and-all-humanity-will-cease-to-exist type shows. Whether it is a movie, show, or special, they all have the same message: "The millennium is coming and so here is what is going to happen when it comes."

One week the threat is aliens, the next meteors, and the next it's Brooklyn sewer zombies that dine on human entrails. All of it, however, hinged on the coming of the year 2000.

What I want to know is, why does the coming of the millennium bring out such horrific events? We all know that the year 2000 is coming, but for some reason our culture is fixated on someone's guess that this will bring a horde of atrocities. Sure, it makes a great tabloid feature or news story, but really it's such a hoax!

Besides, has anybody actually seen one bit of proof that the coming years will bring any type of tragedies? If so, they sure haven't shared it with the rest of us. With all the scientists, astronomers, and philosophers, they should have come up with some prediction, but has one come out? No!

For all we know, the earth may just get a little bit better as time passes. And did any world-ending happening occur in the year 1000? If they had known it was the year 1000, they would probably have had a fit. But everything turned out all right, which is probably what will happen now. There haven't been any circumstances to suggest anything will go wrong.

But let's just say the world does come to some tragic end. Every bit of paranoia in the world won't do a thing, except to over-dramatize the unavoidable.

The world should forget about what could happen and simply get on with life. It's the only one you have, so live it up. I think almost anyone would agree it would be better to live life with zeal and zest than to lock yourself away, and wait for the end (if there is one). ?