It seems that we humans have a built in Us/Them view of the alien other that is extremely strong. So much so, that we even apply it to other humans and societies that are the least bit different from that in which we were born. Need an example? The Human Race. There is only one. No more, no less. Nevertheless, God help you if you should have dark skin, or slanted eyes, or rounder faces than the majority of people around you. Visa versa, if you should be light-skinned, have light straight hair, and smaller lips in a land of dark folks. We can even be the same people living in the same land, but with slightest variations of the same religion and it will be enough of an excuse for one side to commit genocide--the complete extinguishing of the other group. It is my hope that in the future, Humankind will break the bonds of our cradle Earth and expand throughout our star system and go beyond to explore and settle other distant star systems. It is my despair that we will go without having managed to control that dark impluse to destroy the alien other just because it is different and because we can. On the other hand, to do so may strike at our fundamental humanness. That impluse--dark as it is--may also be one of the key factors that gives humans their drive to explore and learn and change things. Were we to eliminate that revulsion for the alien other, we might doom ourselves to remaining on this planet and to eventual extinction. Thanks for dropping by to look and listen to my rant. I always appreciate each and every one of you. Special thanks to my encouragers who leave responses to my previous works and for all of you have added some of them to your list of Favorites. Jeremy CREDITS: "Kaytox" and "Kaytex" modeled and textured by midnightstories (Renderosity) [ midnightstories's store: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?vendor=midnight_stories ]. Footprints: more useful primitives freebies by Waldemar Barkowski aka spacebones (Renderosity Freestuff, ShareCG). Trees: Vue6's "Bottle Ferns" from "Sci-Fi" plant collection. Ecosystem: Created using Vue6's "Z-Megaspore2" and "Odd Fantasy Tree" from "Sci-Fi" plant collection. Terrains: from Karen Verba's "Faerie & Fantasy" collection (Cornucopia3d).