gocomics.com/bc
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We humans like to make fun of dinosaurs because they became extinct. But dinosaurs lived on earth for about 180 million years and were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for 135 million years. We modern humans evolved about 200,000 years ago. Mere youngsters.
Our pride reminds me of Ozymandias:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley
Some of us think we’re really hot stuff. That seems silly to me.
the writing on the wall. no pun intended. well. maybe a little. 🙂
such beautiful words from shelley.
I wish he and others of note could look upon our world today.
I don’t think they’d be shocked in the least.
Just human nature in action.
“Dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows, why fret about it, if today be sweet.”
~ Omar Khayyám
Or,
“We’re all a bunch of nuts. It’s silly to take ourselves too seriously.”
—Cheerful Monk
Just reading through the cartoon reminded me of someone (hint: his name begins with ‘T’). Or as Carly Simon sang, “You are so vain”!
He is entertaining, which is why he got so much free publicity.
Jean, I do think we are “hot stuff”. I am in total awe of the intricacies of the human mind, its workings, that fine piece of engineering (our body), how much both [body and mind] can withstand. To me the whole world is a miracle. The fact that we even exist, and able to take note, a miracle.
That, along with dinosaurs, tigers, and elephants …, one day we may not any longer “be” is neither here nor there. When we were it was AMAZING. And I am glad and so grateful that I have/had the privilege.
U
I’m in awe of a lot of things too. I still think we’re silly when we puff up our egos and think we’re so superior.
I identify more with Charles Schultz who first referred to Charlie Brown as “that little round headed kid” he modeled after himself because he didn’t expect anyone to remember him.
Charlie Brown always made me sad. I don’t expect anyone to remember me, and that’s fine. I’m doing what I was born to do, and that’s enough.
Not all the animals from that dynasty are “dead” – check out the Tuatara
http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/reptiles-and-frogs/tuatara/
What a great link! Thank you.
I think that those who think they are Hot Stuff, are not.
(Wealthy reality stars, politicians, Sport figures)
and those who don’t think they are, are/were.
(Jane Goodall, Maud Lewis, Mother Teresa…to name a few)
I’m with you on that!