When we talk about man, we are talking about a very complex creature. When we are talking about the environment he lives in, we are talking about a very beautiful, but violent place. Not only is the earth itself prone to eruptions, earthquakes, killer storms, but of destruction on a global basis. That is the price that you have to pay, when you live on a live, vibrant planet.The planet itself is exquisite with blue oceans and fertile lands. At this point in our existence, we don't even know if there are any other planets out there that can match it for sheer beauty and functionality. Think about it, we are supplied with everything that allows us to live. I am not just talking about existence here, I am talking about living a satisfying life. The problem is that none of us know, when nature might turn on us. The Romans at Pompeii thought that they had it made. Many lived in luxury and experienced many pleasures. Then it happened, the volcano named Mt. Vesuvius decided to launch a huge eruption that completely destroyed the people of that town. In the blink of an eye, all that they held precious, including their lives, was lost. The earth is unpredictable.

Taking this a step further let's look at the non human life on this planet. Most of the creatures living here survive by killing each other. Insects trap other insects and some times even tiny animals, kill and eat them. Fish prey on each other as do the wild beasts. Lower life on this planet can only be described as savage. When the first life appeared, it had to fight to exist. It had to eat. There were plants that could be eaten, hey they are alive too, or there were other creatures. Usually the animal life preyed upon smaller creatures. The insects sometimes had a different tactic, they attacked en mass. Some insect colonies have hundreds of thousands of inhabitants and can even contain millions. They might swarm over creatures considerably larger than an individual member of the colony. In rare instances this is practiced by the animal world. Wolves travel in packs, for example, but attacking en mass is sort of an exception with most animals. Not all animals are ferocious however. Some even seem to like humans, such as the Dolphin. Normally Elephants are gentle giants. Some other animals have had killing so inbred into them that you would not even want to be in the same general area as them. A polar bear is a prime example of this along with lions and tigers.

So why are a few animals so much more docile than others? I guess that it was because of the way they developed along the evolutionary trail. When we look at elephants, we see a creature that has but a few natural enemies and eats mainly plants and bark. But if this were true, than why would another animal like a lion, who also has few natural enemies be always looking to hunt a meal? Could it be because it developed along the lines of a meat eater? The question is that if it had developed into a plant eater, would it have had a different disposition? We can only guess at the answer to this question and say that maybe this would be true, but it might not look like a lion anymore. It wouldn't need the claws and fangs in that case and might not have them today if it had ate plants.

Nuclear Attack Sub
Photo Source: DOD

What about humans, why are they so complex and so different, in many cases, from each other? Oh I don't mean to imply that humans are different physically, because we all know that no matter what race we are, physically we are all about the same. One has to ponder that question and wonder why nature decided to create different races. Scientists will say that the climate of the different places man settled in was responsible for the different skin colors and differences in some of the other attributes, but has this ever been proved? Maybe this question is a lot more complex than we think. Anyway, you have to wonder why the nature of human beings differs so much that we can actually form several different behavioral types. There are those that stay very calm under pressure. No matter what you throw at them, they seem to be able to cope. I think that we would all like to be like them. There are no stress heart attacks among this group. At the other end of the scale are the type As. They are always tense and worry about everything, even things that don't seem important to the rest of us. There are many stress related deaths here. Then there are those that fall somewhere into the middle. This accounts for most of us. We worry about the important things, things that we think are important to us or our families. The rest of the stuff we can pretty much take in stride.

If these were the only differences between us, the human race would probably live quite peaceably. Unfortunately for us, there are other differences, differences in our attitudes. Two extreme examples of this are the pacifist and the killer.The first one will not take a human life under any circumstances, even during wartime. The second one will not only kill, but it doesn't bother him at all. An example of the killer might be the Cambodians that were part of the Red Brigade under Pol Pot. They actually murdered about 1/3 of the population of that country. These people started out as ordinary farmers and somehow turned into monsters, who would even pull livers out of children so that they could watch them take days to die. In between we have those that will only kill when faced with death themselves and those that will kill when they believe it is in the service of their country. So you can see there are at least four distinct layers here. Some people that kill others justify it by saying that the ones that they kill will go before God to be judged. Of course if an atheist kills you, he just kills you. Either way you are just as dead.

Let's look at Earth from the perspective of a space alien. One that comes from some advanced society where war is non existent. He would be horrified at what goes on, on this planet. When he saw that we have nuclear weapons and our weapons technology was advancing and space travel was just a stone's throw away, he might just panic, especially if his home world was not that far away. If you were to talk to a UFO investigator, he might tell you that there are alien beings here and they are nervously watching our every move, because they are scared that we will do something to upset the universe or even effect their planet. Looking at what is going on right now, I would have to say, they might be right. Not only are many of us war mongers, but some of our scientists are playing with fire, literally. A new more powerful particle accelerator is being built. It is going to be so powerful that it might create tiny black holes. Most scientists say, “hey don't worry about it, they will only last for a fraction of a second then dissolve”. What if they are wrong and we create a mini black hole that begins to feed on the material around it? How do we know that this hasn't happened to cultures on other planets before? Are scientists always right?

Yes we have the capacity of bringing destruction in so many ways. If there are peace loving cultures out there, they probably would be better off avoiding us. Is there any hope for the human race? I would like to think so, but we seem to be just as savage now as we were thousands of years ago, the only difference being that we can now destroy the world. Maybe its time for a little scientific research into why some people are so much more civilized than others. Maybe there is something to be learned from this that could be used to help the rest of us poor saps that can't help but have those violent tendencies, whether it be anger from a driving situation, shear fury from someone cutting in front of us online, or whatever. If it is found, maybe the guy who cut ahead of us can be helped too, to realize that this is wrong and he is hurting others.