The planet Earth is 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years old. Modern Homo sapiens evolved from their early hominid predecessors between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago. The capacity to develop language dates back about 50,000 years ago. Modern humans began migrating out of Africa approximately 70,000 to 100,000 years ago. As a species we are infants when compared to the dinosaurs who rose during the Middle to Late Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era, about 230 million years ago. They were the most successful group of animals in Earth’s history dominating the planet for over 170 million years.

 

The human presence in the continuum of time/space is difficult for most folks to wrap their brains around when illustrated with numbers. Since our average life span is generally less than one-hundred years, we tend to think of time only in decades, centuries, and at the most, a few millenniums. We can gain a much different perspective for our position in the universe as observed from a distance in outer space.

 

The world’s modern societies have become consumed with a myriad of scientific, technologic, social, and cultural advances. While much has improved throughout human evolution, many decisions were made not for the good and welfare of the planet and its biologic inhabitants, rather for the benefit of advancing monetary gains, control, and power to rule the masses with little to no regard for the consequences. As a species, we tend to be self-indulgent, self-absorbed, self-centered, and clearly willing to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the fundamental planetary axioms and natural laws of nature. Unlike the dynamic, symbiotic relationships inherent and practiced by most plants and animals, humans seem to operate on their own set of laws and principles. Our goals and aspirations have often evolved with honorable intent, but the destructive nature of our flawed behavior too often gets in the way of a consistent enforcement of written and established elements that were originally designed with good intensions.

 

One should wonder with our abilities to think, to self-actualize our position in the biological realm, develop and articulate a written and vocal language, advance our stature as a population possessing reasoned, carefully measured judgment, with a behavior and ability to manage and assess progressive societies, whether we will ever recognize ourselves as one fundamentally uniform family sharing the basic threads of survival, mutual respect, and total regard for an entire planet of inhabitants functioning in a constant state of dynamic equilibrium.