who run the world?

Cockroaches! 

Well sure, of course girls do too........but these dreadful home invaders were around about 299,800,000 years before us. The numbers speak for themselves, don't they! 

As much as we'd like to believe that humans dominate Earth, our ego tends to overshadow the facts. Humans are not the only problem-solving, well-adapting creatures on this planet. Far from it. In the eyes of time, we are toddlers, and with the advance of technology, we're maybe toddlers taking our very first steps into the future. That's where we are on the timeline.

But who are the real adults of Earth? The ones that have stood the test of time, even when other species couldn't? Who are the survivors, the creatures with experience, with eyes glazed over by all the things they've encountered and places they've gone, and countless "back in my day" stories at their nonexistent fingertips? Well, the answer is.......the same creatures that hide in the crevices of your seemingly hygienic bathroom, then come scurrying across the floor only for you to scream and crush them dead with a rolled up magazine that somehow managed to maneuver itself into your hands. Quite a scene, right?

Even if you hate them, you have to give them credit. Let's take a look at some of the things cockroaches have done that humans wouldn't stand a chance doing:

• They can live one week without their head.
• They can survive being submerged underwater for 40 minutes because that's how long they can hold their breath.
• They can live without food for a month.
• They survived the supposed 6-12 mile wide asteroid that hit Earth and caused the complete wipeout of monster sized dinosaurs.
• They can, arguably, survive a nuclear explosion.

(If you do really hate them, consider the fact that only 1% of the entire cockroach species are actually pests; the other 99% have never intruded into your home and made you scream. Also, fun fact: Mosquitoes are actually the deadliest animals in the world. You don't start wailing when see one of those, though, do you?)
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​So, cockroaches are actually some of the most adaptable creatures on the planet. In fact, humans ought to take a page from their book. They take any situation and make the most they possibly can of themselves during that time, and their strategy has worked for 300 million years now. Us humans are only 200,000 years in and we're already worried that we've wrecked the place with our ignorance for nature! Good old roaches don't have to worry about that. 

Then again, is that always a great thing?
Sure, they've survived for millions of years, but they still maintain their primitive body figure and appearance. What do we have that they don't? Or, better yet, what do we have that pretty much no animal has at all? Intelligence. Knowledge. The ability to apply things we learn and things we do into other situations. That is the real power. And that is why we are so destructive in environmental terms. We have ideas and creations and products through our power from knowledge, and we are eager to implement them. Too eager. So eager, that we are going too fast for our own good and killing our one little home. 

That's where the cockroaches have exceeded. We have such great power, and a rate of evolution that's extremely fast, but cockroaches have little power and evolve slowly. They let mother nature do her job, and she serves them well. 

It's impossible for humans to slow down with our ideas. That's obvious. It's our purpose in life to keep on creating. But if we did just calm down a little bit, maybe we'd aid ourselves in the long run. It's a solution, maybe. One that is impractical and unfeasible, but a solution nonetheless. 

Would the human race go askew if we disregarded our inherent desire to keep producing? Or would we end up saving ourselves and our future generations? I suppose we'll never know.
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