The age of planet Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years. You can get a visual sense of how long that is by applying that length of time to a leisurely walk of 75 steps. Not heel-to-toe. Not carefully paced out. Just a simple, comfortable stroll of 75 steps. When you begin, try to select an obvious starting point like a tree or a wall or a car. Those 75 steps will equal roughly 150 feet.

Applying 4.5 billion years to that distance means that every foot equals 30 million years and every inch equals 2 and a half million years.

Current anthropology places the emergence of Homo Sapiens at approximately 130 thousand years ago. On the timeline represented by your walk, that equals a bit less than 1/16th of an inch (or the thickness of 18 magazine pages pinched between your fingers).

Thus, all of the creations, thoughts and inventions emerging from all of Human recorded history - From scrolls to pockets PC's - Dolmans to skyscrapers - Hunting rituals to religions - Clay pots to governments - ALL took place in a stretch of time less than the thickness of a single magazine page (That would equal 9,765.63 years.) or, 1/256th of an inch.

On a cosmic time scale, the entire history of humanity is bug fart in a hurricane. To apply an even more microscopic lens to this perspective, overlay a single human lifespan to that time line. Some things may be important. Most are not. Try to choose wisely.