If There Is Life On Mars

"If there is life on Mars that had developed separately form Earth, then that means the big barrier to becoming an interstellar species isn't the life-creating part, but the surviving this technological adolescence part without destroying ourselves." -Yahoo

It's no secret that we want to find life on Mars. There are thousands of sci-fi stories talking about it and we are sending satellites/robots to the red planet to search for it. What if we do find not only traces of bacteria but also remnants of mammals or civilizations?

The next logical questions would be "What happened?" and "Is this what will happen to us if we keep our current destructive nature?" As far as we know, an Earth like planet is rare and to have 2 in the same solar system would mean that we were very fortunate.To have one that developed intelligent life is even rarer.
Perhaps planets, like everything else, are meant to die and the intelligent species on it are supposed to explore space in an attempt to find a new home.

What ever the case may be, it's easy to ponder on the question and be inspired by it. We might never know the answers in our lifetime but future generations likely will. This universe, after all, is there for us to explore. Whether it's to search for a new home or only for knowledge purposes; space travel is our destiny.