Let them be

If you could bring back one dinosaur, which one would it be?

From Stock Media

I always loved the dinosaurs that occupy the AMNH.

As a child, I loved visiting the giant beasts and the big whale.

Years later, I spent many a productive evening in the great halls with little Danny. In his childhood, as he is in adulthood, he was always a scientific guide. It was a real treat when his mom entrusted him to me for a trip to the museum.

All that said, I see no useful purpose to bringing the TRex or any of his pals back. Not even the herbivores.

Disasters

The term we use when we experience horrific destruction is ‘Acts of God’. It’s a term of convenience for insurance agents who don’t want to fund natural disasters.

Sometimes, in a more neutral frame of mind, we blame Mother Nature. As if your mama would inflict that upon you.

Of course, the God-fearing among us still turn to prayer when unthinkable catastrophe hits.

I, as usual, turn to a favorite atheistic catchphrase: God has a lot to answer for.

I was remembering

So today, I was thinking of my days teaching kindergarten. There was a boy named Chris Cohen, and as if it weren’t confusing enough for him, he somehow had a Chinese grandmother. Chris [yes short for Christian] had been adopted as a baby. His father was the aforementioned Cohen, but his mother appeared to be a shiksa.

Neither parent was Asian and Chris himself was black.

As I ruminated on this aspect of my life, I also realized that other people’s memories may not hold all that much fascination. Do you find that to be true?

MLK

Who is your favorite historical figure?

It’s not really history if you’ve lived it but I greatly admire Martin Luther King, Jr.

He always maintained a harmonious dignity and respectful rhetoric.

He was a true peace maker.

He paid dearly for his efforts on behalf of equality and social justice.

Given our current civil status, I can only hope that his martyrdom was not in vain.

I am still puzzling this out

Darwin was wrong. Or only partially right.

We aren’t descended in a straight line lineage from one hominid or another.

I Need the Cliff Notes.

Our ancestry, that is, human ancestry, is more complicated than that.

This is intriguing and fascinating, and I don’t have time to fully realize where this fact leads.

Send me the “for dummies” crib book. Please.