It's relatively easy to admire the creations of Man. Statues, architecture of various times and locales, art and music.

While the creations of Man are truly amazing, the natural world is also of incredible interest. The Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, Mons Olympus on Mars. The Earth and our immediate planets are full of incredible examples of what can be wrought by wind, water and the sun.

But what has always struck me as the most extraordinary of all are the creations of theta itself, life. The diversity of life on this planet is stunning. There is almost every kind of life here you can imagine. There are life forms at the bottom of deep crevices in the ocean floor, which thrive on the heat and poisonous chemicals emitted by undersea vents. There are life forms which can actually survive the harsh environment of space (look up "tardigrades"). There are bacteria living in lakes which have been frozen under Antartic ice for centuries or millenia. Go to the library and check out the biggest book you can find with pictures of birds. The colors, shapes are sizes are unbelievable. Same with fish. There are life forms on Earth which have existed as themselves for hundreds or thousands of years. There are trees on the North American continent which were alive at the time of Christ.

And the abundance. Pick a square inch of your yard or garden. Grab a bunch of dirt and put it under a microscope. And there are very few areas of Earth which are completely devoid of life. And even when a disaster (natural or otherwise) wipes out life in a place for a while, the pace at which it returns (in remarkable variety) is a wonder.

Life doesn't just survive on Earth. It thrives.

I remember being on vacation at the beach. The water would come in as the tide rose and fell, and you could see little shelled creatures burrowing under the sand at the water's edge as the sea receded. You could go to the water's edge, pick up a handful of sand and see them wriggling to burrow deeper under the surface.

Every time it rains, I can go out in my yard after a while and see tiny piles of dirt balls in the yard, the products of some earthworms or other subterranean creatures. And when it hasn't rained, I can see the little circular indentations in the yard, traps set by subterranean creatures for bugs who might happen across the ground at some point.

Even the balance of predators versus prey is an extraordinary thing to consider. Fish and frogs, the easy prey of many larger species, have hundreds or thousands of offspring at a time. The big cats of the world have very few. As it should be, else the balance is upset.

I am not an environmentalist, nor a fan of environmentalist groups. I don't trust their agendas. I don't believe they are acting in a sincere fashion toward the purposes they state. Moreover, I don't believe this planet belongs to the life on it. The plants and animals who live here simply live here. They are tenants who live here for free. We-- humans-- own this planet and all the planets in this solar system. As such, it is our responsibility to shepherd and husband its life and resources wisely, something we have neglected to do well in many cases.

I always found it enormously humorous that the scientists who worked on the Apollo space program (purpose: to land men on the moon) were exceptionally concerned with the idea of contaminating the moon with our germs. I always figured, these are our planets and our moons. If we wanted to "contaminate" them, I figured we certainly had the right to. One thing's for sure-- any germs we left on the moom probably wouldn't last long. And if you did find indigenous (pre-existing) life on the moon, so what? How much difference would that make to us on Earth? It's not like life forms native to the moon are going to be building skyscrapers and superhighways any time soon.

I won't argue with people who wonder how all this life happened. I have my own ideas about that. But it doesn't really matter. The fact of its existence, in all its quantity and magnificent diversity is something I truly admire. We live in a zoo, and all you have to do is sit in your chair or walk to your mailbox, and you can't miss the wonders of life around you, if you care to look.

And I would encourage you to look. After all, that's your fifth dynamic out there (and in here). And admire what you find.