It's a Matter of Time

Did you ever catch a story that dramatically puts life in perspective for you?

A study in the current issue of the journal, Science did it for me.

It purports a huge lava flood may have wiped out life as we know it on this planet long before even dinosaurs arrived on this planet. How long ago are we talking about? Try 250 million years. 250 million years!

But here's the kicker, "about 250 million years," give or take a few million. Think about that: the margin of error here is a few million years.

That's the history of mankind on this planet — and then some — all within the asterisk of this great global event. We are an asterisk.

Isn't that a pain the asterisk?

Everything we've done, everything we've accomplished, everything we've fought, died and lived for, falls within the statistical margin of error on a great planet continuing to go through great upheaval.

It got me thinking.

Why do we fuss so much on the things that divide us and not on the things that unite us?

As a species? As a people? As an occupant, and maybe just a temporary one at that, on this great force called planet Earth.

It kind of puts things like market swings in perspective.

Believe me, I like to think what I do is important. But it doesn't mean I'm important. Or that the things I talk about, in the grand scheme of things, will be important.

They are, for now, the fabric of life. A life that is fleeting, fickle and very fragile.

So I apologize for ending on a deep note, but hopefully on a hopeful note. The things we obsess over, fight over, argue over, and churn over — over and over again — come and go.

We waste so much time arguing and churning among ourselves and not stopping to think that in the scheme of things, what matters more is how much we make of ourselves.

It is not a birthright that we are here. I just think we should be grateful for the brief time we are.

What do you think?  Send your comments to: cavuto@foxnews.com. And watch Neil Cavuto's Common Sense weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on Your World w/Cavuto.