Hope for 2012?

As I research deeper into the mayan culture and refer to experts like Namaste Birgitte, of www.maya-portal.com, I am begining to see both sides of the 2012 argument. As much as I have been one to jump on the 2012 band-wagon, I am also happy to hear - from noted experts - that 2012 holds no more fear for the end of the world than does tomorrow.
One such expert has offered this to one of the many groups I belong to in researching societies fear of the number; 2012.

"To respond to the question of 2012. There is indeed a great deal of speculation about the date 12/21/2012, which according to some scholars is the end of the Long Count, the Mayan calendar which keeps track of vast stretches of geologic time. Please note that the Maya had a number of calendars, which they used for differing purposes (the Tzolk'in is the personal calendar, while the Haab was used for agriculture and accounting), so the "end date" just happens to be the closing of a five-thousand-year cycle, and the beginning of another, in the Long Count. And because that sort of thing happens only once in a lifetime, it's a pretty awesome concept. Other scholars, such as Dr. Carl Calleman, state that the end date should in fact be October 28, 2011. However, the Maya themselves do not particularly concern themselves with any end date, but instead refer to a "year zero" which does not have a specific date, per se; in fact, they are baffled by the West's intense interest in 2012. "