Lystrosaurus

I recently watched a series on TV wherein Morgan Freeman details in mellifluous tones the epochs and fauna of the earth.  I learned that there have been at least five extinction events, moments in time where, for various reasons most of life on earth was eradicated.  Over millions of years life would then return, each time in increasingly familiar stages, from microbial life through to dinosaurs and eventually mammals.  I found interesting that during one extinction event, 250 million years ago, while most other creatures died off, a single survivor called Lystrosaurus remained and thrived.  A pig-sized proto dinosaur (for lack of a better term), Lystrosaurus was the dominant land animal for five million years.  Five million!  By comparison humans in their current form have only been around for about 250,000 years.  This critter wandered bowlegged through the years, happy to eat plants and make more Lystrosaurus.  All our mighty accomplishments in the past quarter million years (less actually) pale in comparison to the ability of this little creature to simply survive and thrive.  Of course I have a couple of conclusions on that, first being that our extinction as a species is inevitable.  Something will eventually come along to kill us off and earth will start over.  It has happened before and it most certainly will happen again.  Who knows, perhaps something better will come along.  But regardless, one day it will all end for humans.  We won’t get sucked up into heaven, that’s a human construct, not a reality.  We’ll just be gone.  So in the meantime we need to be the best we can, take care of each other and thrive in the here and now.  Make now the best it can be, treat each other and our world well.  And maybe just be like Lystrosaurus, trundling along and living our best life, day to day, unremarkable but happy.