Evolution | Teen Ink

Evolution

September 23, 2011
By gaffyninja SILVER, Doha, Other
gaffyninja SILVER, Doha, Other
7 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
Fettucini alfredo is macaroni and cheese for adults.
- Mitch Hedberg


It is quite silly, sometimes, when we think about the intricacies of evolution. How, that in the beginning of time, an explosion so colossal, so enormous and so magnificent that even the most imaginative of minds fail to conceptualize, started a chain reaction that lead towards life. Tiny, molecular life, but life nonetheless. How these iota of beings, with a little help from natural selection, would soon form a consciousness, is itself an absurd conjucture. But if we were to look outside, at what is left of our world and see the pigeons elegantly perched on their window panes, cats stealthily hunting for prey next to their dumpsters and the grass, rebelliously growing along the edges of sidewalks, we understand that nature is a relentless poet, forever rebuffing its obstructions.

And evolution is nature's poetry. It is an epic where we only play a very small part, but forced ourselves into prominence.

We realize through only the simplicity of our eyes, that evolution is not a conjucture, but fact. It really happened.

The origin of our species is nothing unique in comparison to that of every other sentient being on this planet. But it is in the nature of our survival where we are set apart - working and living in groups. Soon, these groups would turn into hutments and chieftains represented by an elder. Eventually, they metamorphose into vast kingdoms and empires from whence it grows, as time passes by, to effloresce into civilizations. All because of our evolutionary trait or instinct of group living.

However, that is not all that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom, there is a far more greater and an intrinsic difference - the sense of wonder that we have towards our environment and, our conscience. So far, it is only our species that have quietly evolved these characteristics. And how lucky we are that they did. Without it, we would have never reached where we are now through roughly 5,000 years of civilization.

Then again, it is quite ironic that as our civilizations become more modern with the technology that we have devised through the manipulation and careful study of nature, it is our instinct, our very driving force that is eroding away. It reminds me of what Chuck Palahniuk had once written in his novel, Choke, where the narrator describes how animals in a zoo, stripped of all necessity to use their their natural survival instincts, resort to masturbating all day in their cages. As society progresses and technology allows us to take the most basic things in life for granted, we're left with inventing new ways to occupy ourselves during the free time that we have. We make the cage our home.

Indeed, we have lost our true selves as we progressed. Looking at pictures of the Earth from one of plethora of satellites that waltzes around our planet, it humbles me at times as our insignificance in this vast, encompassing universe occurs to me. That on this pale blue dot lies everything we've heard of. Every civilization, every King, every Queen, every Prince who wishes to kill his King for a quick ascession, every peasant, every beggar, every culture and every religion. Sometimes I look at the grandness of these holy cities with their awe-inspiring temples, churches, synagogues and mosques. It would seem that god is everywhere whilst walking within it's borders, but it is in fact humans, not god who built the basilicas and shrines.

We have such immense potential when we are organized and motivated, imagine what we could do if we could motivate ourself enough to focus more into education, health care, human rights and secular living. Imagine what we could do if we motivate ourselves to build a better world. Eventually, we will realize that we wouldn't need empires and kingly sanctuaries to enthrall us, but that each and every one of us are just as grand.

Over the course of history, we have evolved from the primordial soup to develop a body and intelligence that has the necessary capacity to map out the entire universe. Thought it may seem bold, but it is quite plausible that we are the universe's conscience. We have so much power in our hands that it really does seem silly to have developed from the molecular haphazarardy ensuing after the death of one fateful star. However, all we have used these powers for is to kill, to pillage, to destroy, to invade, to ravage and to engulf one another, all so very fervently to become momentary masters of a pale blue dot suspended in a sunbeam. And I ask myself, is it all really worth it?



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