Question and Answer III

God created the Earth in seven, scratch, four point five billion days right? It took him an extra 4,498,000 to create man. He tinkered, toyed and experimented. Who would be the best inhabitants of the new world? Who would be the best protectors of its glorious lands? The giant lizards were a decent attempt. Great beasts, who could live in peace and harmony, with their surrounding habitat. Living in unity for nearly 200 million years. Each member complying communally with their rank on the food chain. Plants, animals, fish, and insects lived under their reign. Mammals have lived for 200 million years. Insects have lived to 400 million. They only killed for food. They didn't kill out of vengeance, jealousy, or a troubled childhood. But, they didn't progress. They couldn't think. One of the four-legged beasts stood up over two million years ago.  A Homo Sapien. The mongrel race first appearing in the Upper Paleolithic Era. Descendants of a number of extinct species including Habilis, Erectus, and Neanderthalensis.

The Thinker? Or the stinker?

Coincidentally, on the other side of the world, another species was evolving. A species that was directly entwined with that of homo sapiens. Bos primigenius. Also known as aurochs, or the ancestors of domestic cattle. Animals that could sustain human life providing food and milk. This is one of the reasons why Hindus revere the animal as divine. Why did our species win? Why was it our collection of matter that came to control this planet? Who was responsible? Who implies it was a person or being, but nobody I know is capable of something like this. Was it Mother Nature? Was it simply science and how the Universe restructures after a disaster? Was it God, in the monotheistic sense of the word meaning source of all and supreme being? HA. I fart in your general direction. God is a curse word to the one who pulled it all off. Whatever he or she doesn't ask to be called God. That’s just what we nicknamed him because we are lazy and God’s only three letters. The Lord. The Almighty. The father, the son, and the Holy Ghost. Gitchi Manitou. An Incarnation of Yushu. Yahweh. 

Hosanna in the highest

It doesn’t matter, all religions tell the same story. Just in a different language.  I'm Catholic because I like the music the best. Though I'd rather be Baptist.  Whatever you call it, lead one particular animal out of the jungle and into the world. The earliest descendants of man came from Africa. In those days the world looked differently and they didn’t call it Africa. One of the monkeys in the jungle was fooling around and started to think. He wanted to say something but he couldn’t speak. He didn’t know how. He was depressed because everyone else kept making fun of his deformed thumb. They were jealous because it helped him do things. He didn’t care because he knew he was different. These new outcasts dragged their feet out of the forest and out into the wilderness. They walked in search of a better life. There were many obstacles along the way. Treacherous foe threatening to ingest the man if he didn’t protect himself. They just wanted to find peace. They just wanted to find happiness. They thought and thought. They banged their heads against the walls of their caves in frustration. Thousands of years of this went by and the man finally realized what he had that was special. He was a Cro-Magnon. During man's genetic evolution he didn't develop sharp claws or poisonous skin or even venom. Though that would be cool. What did God give him that made him different from the rest? What defining characteristic led him to control a planet? To literally have the world's health and well-being in our hands. Ingenuity. Intelligence was his defense mechanism.  

"I believe in a religion that believes in freedom."

His brain protected him. It was how he was designed. An intelligent design if I might add.  And whatever or whoever was responsible for the production of the human brain should be held accountable. 10,000 years ago, humans decided to trade in their nomadic tribes and hunter-gatherer mentality for comfort and community. The first prototype states were started 6,000 years ago. Mankind went from sticks and stones to warlords with bows and arrows. They waged wars over resources. How barbaric? 3,000 years ago religions like Judaism and Hinduism were founded. In the last 2,000 years, we went from pretending Kings with armies to elected officials with cell phones. Believing in God isn't believing in a set of rules or archaic rituals, its believing in an idea. It's an inspiration. It's a belief. I was inspired by a movie to ask a question. I got the answer within a second.  

O Deep Thought!

My friend's cave doesn't have internet so I had to wait till I got home. In 1880, Herman Hollerith invented the machine for recording data. It could process information via feedable punchcards. Ten years later the United States used it to calculate the Census. That company would become IBM.  Less then a hundred years later it would partner with a young man named Bill Gates to create the basic computing system. In 1996 this divine giver of answers was founded at some school in California as a research project by some homo sapien born 4.5 billion years after the Earth. Today nearly two billion homo sapiens can communicate through the internet and almost double that have cell phone subscriptions. Now for the follow-up. How long do men live for? The average human lifespan on Earth today is 69 years old. 39 years older than the oldest Tyrannosaurus Rex. Add ten years if your an American and twenty if you live in Monaco. We replaced razor sharp teeth and concrete skin with AK47s and bulletproof vests. We are the tyrants now. But if history has taught us anything, it's that we have the capacity to change. We have the technology. We have the power. We will evolve again. It's our nature. It's in our blood. It's our destiny.