Today marks an auspicious date: the bicentennial birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. It's no surprise, really, who gets the attention here in America and who get's short shrift; Honest Abe has been the belle of the ball lately (even Bush tried to invoke him in the waning days of his term), and poor Charley, well, let's just say some folk don't kindly take to his thinkin. It's a shame, honestly. Not that Lincoln is garnering so much attention, but that Darwin is garnering so little. While, admittedly, there's no grounds for it, if the two men were to be held up in direct comparison, Darwin's star should far eclipse Lincoln's. Though Lincoln's impact on the course of American history is difficult to diminish, what, at the end of the day, did he really contribute to the greater cause of humanity? He begrudgingly ended the institution of slavery in the US, but this was effectively playing catch up with the rest of the civilized world. And, he couldn't do so without plunging the nation into it's bloodiest and darkest period. While that says more about the nation than the man, it doesn't exactly take take the stink off. Ultimately, Lincoln was a skillful orator with enough bravery to tear the band-aid off. He was a good man, maybe a great man, but when push comes to shove, he was merely a footnote in the greater scheme of history.
What, then of Darwin? If anything, the man was a less impressive specimen of an individual, portly, balding, wracked with anxiety, exuding about as much raw charisma as the barnacles he so dearly loved. But beneath that beetling, neanderthal brow, true genius percolated, the informal, unpretentious genius than drew wisdom from the world at hand. What we today call the theory of evolution in shorthand was the brainchild of a humble country naturalist, and perhaps no other scientific principle is as important or as influential. There's a well worn quote by Theodosius Dobzahnsky that goes: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution". It's very true; without the guiding principle of evolution by natural selection to shine a light on the intricate workings of life, one would be forced to resort to ridiculous and preposterous make-believe explanations, like suggesting the world was 'designed' by some 'intelligent' 'god-like' individual. Oh, wait...
Of all the slew of unaccounted for flaws that embarrasses me about being an American, none rankles me so much personally as our good, old-fashioned, religious-fueled ignorance. I spent about two hours today casually perusing a high school biology textbook (the glorious life of a substitute teacher) and was struck by how much sense everything made, how much exquisite, well-formed sense the whole biological process made. I'd hate to think that the entire, delicate system of life as we know it could be negated with one well placed sentence ascribing credit to some divine designer. It's disgusting. It's the antithesis of intelligence, but it's the goal of innumerable individuals across the country, eager to insert their religious beliefs into the body of scientific education, at a time when our nation already trails the rest of the industrial world academically. We should all be embarrassed, not just me.
So as I kick off this week of evolutionarily themed posts, I bid you to take a moment and, after giving Abe his proper congrats, give Darwin a little much needed love too.
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