Occasionally small miracles happen that helps remind me of the trivialness of human existence and worries. We've built these cities made of concrete and steel that give us the impression of permanence and a place in the world, but sometimes something will occur that lets us know how impermanent we are.

This is especially true in North America where none of the major cities have been around long enough to match the age of most European city's sewer systems. When you start taking into consideration the civilizations of the Middle East, India, China, and the Sub Sahara that flourished while Europeans were still squatting in the bushes, you really begin to realize how young this continent is.

Even the oldest city on the banks of the Euphrates pales in contrast to the history of the world itself. Various creation myths would have us believe the world was created for our pleasure, but only those whose brains are oxygen deprived from sniffing the glue that holds their holy books together are actually going to believe that anymore.

Human existence is but a mere blink of the eye in relationship to how long life has existed on the planet. We haven't come close to matching the longevity of the dinosaurs yet. Human history is only considered in terms of ten of thousands of years while, judging by fossil records, the big lizards could have been around for tens of millions years before they died out.

None of this prevents us from thinking highly of ourselves though, and to give credit where credit is due, we've certainly accomplished a lot in a short period of time. We've driven thousands of life forms to the edge of extinction, if not to extinction, without being aware of their existence in a lot of cases.

In only the relatively short period of time that we've existed, we've managed to destroy or deplete the majority of fresh water in the world, turn fertile land into desert, rid the world of pesky forests that stood long before humans existed (thus making the world safe from the icky pollution of fallen leaves), and made it easier for everyone to get a tan by eliminating the pesky Ozone layer.

There have been major advances in other areas, too. We've been able to find cures for some of the diseases our behaviours have caused. We've perfected ways in which we can exterminate huge amounts of us at once, and we've created belief systems that guarantee we will want to use the means to do so. What do you think will happen when everyone believes a variation of "I'm right and you're wrong"? Peace and tranquility?