Three years ago I was in the Australian Outback. On my first night there, I stared up into the stars because they were so bright I couldn't stop myself. Almost immediately I saw a bright object soaring across the night sky. "Was that a comet?" I asked myself. A few taps on an astronomy app on my iPhone later I found out it wasn't a comet... it was the International Space Station.

I wonder if there are people on there right now?

And at that moment, I came to full realization just how insignificant humanity is to The Universe.

It reminded me of a line from Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon's Watchmen where Laurie Jupiter is trying to convince the god-like Dr. Manhattan to save an earth that's on the brink of nuclear war...

Today I got that same feeling of humanity's utter insignificance... but it came from watching the news... not looking up at the heavens.

People are so horrifyingly terrible to each other on this planet that more and more I think the universe is better off without us. Certainly better rid of us before we are technologically advanced enough to head out and spread our poison beyond this solar system.

Star Trek this ain't, and I'm more than a little sad about that.

Thank heavens tomorrow I'm leaving for one of my favorite places on earth.