Why Does It Matter?

On May 21, 2011 many people around the world “prepared” themselves for what was sure going to be their last day on earth. According to a man by the name of Harold Camping, by 6 pm on May 21st, the world was supposed to have experienced a grand earthquake thus preceding “The Rapture,” and it seems as though people around the world spend their “last days on earth” doing many different things. This alone shows what values we respect and how we view them. Harold Camping had concocted some heinous math equation that led him to publicize his fourth prediction. Although the amount of thought and research he put behind his Christian instinct was impressive; all he managed to do was create a moment of desperation for those of us who lead a “sinful” life, and a false ray of hope for those who cling to the prophetic words of people like, Harold Camping.
As one can imagine, the last few days have been driven by the predicted “end of the world,” and through outlets such as Twitter, Live Journal, and Facebook, stories of how people spent their last days have surfaced. Some people thought it would be a great idea to spend their life savings or their children’s college funds, some people spent the day fulfilling their goals and dream, others just spent the past few days locked in and repenting, and the rest either didn’t care or forgot. All these crazy fear-based decisions lead to a small list of much greater and loaded questions: Is it worth it? Does it matter? and Why does it matter? Of course these are questions that fall under the category of “The Meaning of Life,” and are virtually impossible to reply to, but everyone should be entitled to possess their own educated opinion, right? In Thomas Nagel’s essay “The Absurd” he raises some interesting, but conflicting arguments toward life’s “absurdity”. In his very complicated essay of rationalizations, he basically presents us with the 3 main reasons why life could be considered absurd:
1) Whatever we do now will not affect