Gather round me brothers.
Look, you out in space.
Behold the tiny, blue- green world
that bred the human race.

From this orbiting space station,
hidden from mankind's radar eyes
we've studied man for ages,
how he lives and how he dies.

Men are most exotic creatures
of varying color, size and shape,
an evolutionary contradiction,
a breed of genocidal ape.

Rowdy, proud and boastful
humans claim intelligence,
though, judging from their actions
there's no positive
evidence.

Men preach love and understanding
but they seem to relish gore,
while claiming to seek peace and truth
they practice guile and war.

Men observe the strangest rituals
you'll ever hope to see,
such things as tribal politics,
incarceration and bigotry.

Also, something they call " taxes,"
fees that each one has to pay, to nebulous groups called
" government's"
who must fritter them away.

Like every primitive people,
men worship gods galore,
there's " dollar," "fame," and " TV"
and about a thousand more.

Human beings are quite short- lived
they lead hyper- active lives
each one scurrying frantically
until the day he dies.

Perhaps because life's span is so short
is why it's held so cheap
and why they all seem so determined
to expedite that final sleep.

At somewhat regular intervals,
wars sweep across the land
a kind of homicidal insanity,
unique to the race of man.

First, peace conferences are called
where men argue and implore
then they all go home again
and arm themselves for war.

Under flags and false illusions
each faction does it's best
to bring destruction to the others
using fire and pain and death.

When the killing's finally over
the survivors meet as friends
to place all blame upon the loser
and swear they'll never war again.

Of course, such words are vanity.
Man's word is not his bond.
Men have made uncounted treaties
and they've broken every one.

Now, brothers let me summarize
what, so far, we've learned of man.
He's greedy and he's dangerous.
He lies and steals and kills.

He's paranoid and bigoted.
He'll torture just for thrills.
Oh, we've found occasional evidence
of the virtues of the mind.

It's possible man is capable
of being loving, good and kind.
Once, long ago there was a man
who taught peace and brotherhood.

He said with love and tolerance
all men could practice good.
He taught that men could live in peace,
but the elders claimed he lied.

claimed his teachings were blasphemy
and they had him crucified.
Since then, things have gone downhill.
Man takes, but will not give

and when he's finished killing earth
we don't know where he'll live.