To kill or not to kill, that is the question

I spent some time in the garden today, harvesting a jackpots worth of cherry tomatoes when I came across THIS:

Tomato Hornworm
Tomato Hornworms feed on the leaves, stems, and fruits of the tomato plant, causing extensive crop damage. 

YIKES!  My first Tomato Hornworm!  

I probably would not have seen the Hornworm if it weren't for the white specks of rice-looking projections covering its body. Part of me wanted to use my clippers to slice this pest in half to kill it (sick, I know). But, the other part of me knew to save its life because it was only a matter of time before mother nature took care of this for me (hahaha). You see, these white projections are actually wasp eggs from the braconid wasp, Cotesia congregatus, which parasitize the Hornworm. The wasps will kill the Hornworm and will seek out other Hornworms to parasitize. So this guy gets to live another day while the wasps work their magic.