The date today is February 28, 2008, which means this is the 59th day of the Gregorian Calendar and we have another 307 days left in this, the eighth year of the new millennium (307 because 2008 is a leap year). Furthermore, for those out there so inclined to follow the Old Count Calendar of the Ancient Mayans, we have exactly 1,756 days left until December 21, 2012 – the date the Ancient Mayans predicted as Doomsday.

Author Douglas Adams once said, “In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.”

To further understand the significance of the first paragraph, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody actually discovers what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Throughout all ages of time, there have always been people who followed and believed that they were living in the end times. I am not one of them, but I am becoming more and more worried as the days pass. Take a second to put the paper down. Just look around. Take it in. Maybe you are in class ignoring a lecture, maybe you are eating by your lonesome and you thought you would pass the time by reading this fine piece of journalism which calls itself a newspaper.

Maybe you are in the bathroom; whatever the case, take a second to simply take it in.

Do yourself a favor and look around. Take in the faces of the people around you; take in the sounds which those faces are making. Take your time and smell the air. Simply observe everything happening around you. Take a time to read this, study each letter, absorb each word. I am sure that somewhere else on this page, there is a column speaking to more respected issues in current culture.

I am sure you have just read something about why Obama is going to win, or why the UMass lacrosse players who assaulted those three kids deserve to be charged with attempted manslaughter as opposed to assault and battery. I am sure you have just read something which requires you to have a greater understanding of the world at large to comprehend or relate to its meaning.

However, I say to you, all those issues, as important and seemingly pressing as they are, they mean nothing in the grand scale of you and how you relate to everything. Think to yourself, “when is the last time that I just sat here and daydreamed?”

Do you even know? It seems silly and frivolous, but ask yourself that question. You might be thinking to yourself, “is this kid serious?” Yes, I am. I say to you now, wherever you are, take a few moments today and every day here there after to sit down and daydream. Look at the world around you, this world which is seemingly crumbling while our leaders look on yet do nothing, to think about how great it used to be and to dream of how great it will be.

Think of all the issues which annoy you. Racism, poverty, global warming, war, etc – Ask yourself, how did we get here?

Stop and daydream. Think of all the ideas you have heard which inspires you. Daydream about all the thoughts which make you smile, which make you think of that safe little place you had while growing up.

Think of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Simply, daydream about a better tomorrow. You might think it silly and inane, but trust me, if you can’t daydream; you have then lost the ability to dream. If you have lost the ability to dream, all your childhood aspirations, which were motivated by pure joy, have become lost to you. If you can’t daydream about a better day, not only is your future lost, but so is your past.

Our world is in a state of turmoil, but it’s not too off the deep end that it can’t be fixed. Daydream to find the path of fixing it. You might think it childish, but some of the best thoughts and purest ideas come from the minds of untainted youth.

Finally, as Adams wanted, imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, “This is an interesting world I find myself in, an interesting hole I find myself in, fits me rather neatly, doesn’t it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!”

This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it’s still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything’s going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise. I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for.

Brad Leibowitz writes on Thursdays. He can be reached at [email protected]