If it was the end of the world as we knew it, would you feel fine? For the time being our earth is floating in space, relatively undisturbed by any large objects flying into our atmosphere. These objects, often called NEOs (Near Earth Objects), have been a hot NASA issue for the last couple weeks.

A newly discovered asteroid named 2003 QQ47 received a great deal of attention because of the possibility that it might collide with the earth in the year 2014. Originally, the odds of a collision were relatively high in comparison with other such extraterrestrial objects. But after a few days of monitoring by a statistics company affiliated with NASA, the odds of a collision were lowered to a safe 1 in 250,000. Whether you knew it or not, 2003 QQ47 could have really affected the next decade of our lives.

These are the kinds of things that, most often, the general public is not told about. And even though this "close call" turned out to be nothing more than an incorrect statistic, what if this were to someday come true? What if the headline of this paper that you are currently holding read something like, "2 kilometer wide asteroid to collide with earth in December?" What would you do? Would you run around like a chicken with your head cut off? Have you done everything with your life that you want to do?

I am guessing that with an audience of mostly college students and people with extraordinarily bright futures, the answer is probably not.

I have a poster of James Dean hanging in my room (quite possibly the coolest dude of the 20th century) and below his likeness reads his quote, "Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today." James Dean died in a car wreck when he was 24 years old. Live like you will die today, so that you can look back on your life and say, "Man, I did what I wanted to do and I have no regrets."

Now, back to the huge fake rock plummeting toward the earth at speeds that would cause tidal waves to go more than 400 feet high. This whole time I have been picturing the scenes from my favorite "asteroid hitting the earth" movie, not Deep Impact, that movie was awful, but Armageddon.

I would like to think that we as a human race could pull together and beat extinction, that we could put our differences aside and have Mr. Die Hard himself, Bruce Willis save the day. But before he saved the day, do you remember what all those people did when they thought their lives were going to be over in just a matter of days, when they thought humanity would be no more? Most tried to right past wrongs and spend time with loved ones.

We are not there yet, 2003 QQ47 is going to fly right by us and probably won't even wave as it hurtles by. I know that there is a higher power out there watching over us, but I also know that this world has not been around forever and will not be around forever. Make an impact of your own while we get to live this life. We are all here for a reason, to serve a purpose. Find your purpose, find your reason. Do not worry about what tomorrow might hold, tomorrow has enough worries of its own. Do what you can with today.

Randall Jay Payleitner is a junior in LAS. His column appears on Fridays. He can be reached at opinions@dailyillini.com.