So here it comes, the fabled end of 2012 – and the end of the 5,000 year old Mayan calendar…will it be the end of the world as we know it?  Regardless of what the Mayans may have in store for us, the Winter solstice of 2012 should be a time of renewal, and reflection where we have been, and where we need to go.  The Powers-That-Be seem to like the status quo – we just went through a torturous election cycle and nothing changed.  The President, the Congress, New York Senate and Assembly –everyone was re-elected.  Meet the new boss - same as the old boss.  We say we want change, but do we really?  Change is scary, unknown.  The status quo is safe, familiar, even if it is taking us toward the abyss.   We've taken the bait of globalism, enjoying the flood of cheap consumer goods and electronics into our lives, but at the expense of domestic jobs and imploding city centers.  We have more stuff than ever before, but less connection to the people and places we've called community.  The Holiday season again approaches, and the Black Friday seduction will beckon even earlier, attempting to steal the valued time we used to call Thanksgiving, now just another day to get in line to get the deals.  Are we that narcissistic?    Maybe we deserve to have the world as we know it end, because the world we have created so far has gone mad.