Happy Birthday Mr. Darwin

I was scanning my calendar and realized this date, 12 February 2009, has got to be a thinking liberals Kwanzaa and Christmas all rolled into one. First, it is the 200th birthday of a man who was debateably our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln.

Second, it is the centennial of America’s premiere civil rights organization, the NAACP. Although they have a spotty record with regard to being effective for their people’s cause, they stand as the model for any minority that wants to create a presence in the main stream.

But more important than either is the birthday of a man not born on this soil, the man responsible for more fights, stupid legislation and a few good movies. Charles Darwin’s birthday, his bicentennial, is today. What an intellect and what a theory. How fortunate he is to still, 150 years after his book came out, be making people question their narrow perceptions about our true place in the universe.

I had the privilege a few years back to teach history and sociology at a few of the South’s major universities as well as a few small colleges. Normally, as all novice instructors do, I had to teach the intro courses—Western Civ I and II. I had big classes filled with first-year undergrads who, for the most part, did not want to be there

Every now and then a topic would grab them—invention in the Dark Ages, Martin Luther, women in the French Revolution—and one topic would usually cause some real debate. Charles Darwin. From the moment I brought him up, some would frown or challenge me or talk about their religious views. And I tried to be patient because in the southern U.S., save for a very few exceptions, Darwin is synonymous with the Devil. Darwinism is a religious discussion that never happens except in the most enlightened of circles below the dreaded (and nebulous) Mason-Dixon line.

But I would try to get them to look at the logic of the man’s most central idea. Evolution occurs when a group that has a shared trait does not reproduce because that trait puts them at a disadvantage. Forget monkeys, forget humanoids and think about the primary concept—a being can’t pass their genetic traits if they no longer exist.

Think about roaches. I know, you don’t want to, but this is the example I would use in teaching. Imagine you had roaches in your kitchen (you just might according to recent statistics…). Now you turn on the light and YoW! there are two roaches! One runs and one stands still. You squish her. That action, killing a bug, is actually shaping the gene pool of roaches in your house. The one who ran is going home to the old lady and going to create a clan of girls and boys who have a tendency to run when the lights go on. And the one on the bottom of your Keds is going to wind up in the A&P bag you are using to line your garbage pail. That, lads and lassies, is Darwin at his most basic. Over time traits that hinder survival are bred out. And conversely traits that contribute to survival are more likely to be preserved and passed along.

So on this day let’s thank the man who proposed a logical route to evolution and still effects us so many years after his words came into print. Happy birthday Mr. Darwin.

© David Ezell 2009
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