This week is going to be hard.
In addition to my own job duties, I am temporarily in charge of the Clerks job duties and my boss's job as well. This isn't really that far outside normal, but for whatever reason (Mercury in Retrograde?) it's a little bit overwhelming. Adding into that equation my not feeling so healthy well this morning, and one of my co-workers freaking out....bleh.
Why's he freaking out? It started with a story about how his daughter is really angry about Pluto not being a classified as a planet anymore. Take into account the fact that she's 5, and already wants to paper all the cars on her street with flyers that say "If you believe Plutos' not a planet, you're wrong," and we've got the early making of quite the little activist. This discussion led to a discussion about dinosaurs that have been renamed, which led to the same coworker talking about how he just found out that two of his friends are Creationists.
Now, just that bit - he found out that two of his friends are Creationists - smacks of oddness to me. First of all, to clarify, I am not a Creationist, I fully believe in Evolution, and maybe even the Big Bang. However, I do realize that Creationists are out there - they are real people, with real jobs, and they eat food, and do things just like everybody else. I had a moment of surprise when I realized that I actually don't know any Creationists (that I'm aware of), especially when, until Darwin, pretty much everyone was a Creationist. Origin of Species (which I need to read) wasn't published until 1859 - only about 150 years ago which is not that long for an idea, especially when it flies in the face of everyone's idea of where animals came from ever. Ever. That's a lot of history to fight, especially when it's not a particularly observable phenomenon.
I do however, think it's a little odd that mutation, like in viruses and bacteria - especially in relation to drug resistance, is commonly accepted, while evolution is commonly not, when it's the same thing. Noone says "Yes this antibiotic will work because every creature was made exactly as it was intended to exist at the dawn of time 7000 years ago." Or, maybe they do. I don't know. Or maybe those are the people who don't go to doctors.
But I'm getting off target.
My point is - Creationists exist. They're out there, doing stuff, and they have every right to believe in whatever they want to believe in so long as they not forcing their beliefs on other people of blowing things up or shooting anyone.
You know, just the same things I expect out of everyone.
Why's he freaking out? It started with a story about how his daughter is really angry about Pluto not being a classified as a planet anymore. Take into account the fact that she's 5, and already wants to paper all the cars on her street with flyers that say "If you believe Plutos' not a planet, you're wrong," and we've got the early making of quite the little activist. This discussion led to a discussion about dinosaurs that have been renamed, which led to the same coworker talking about how he just found out that two of his friends are Creationists.
Now, just that bit - he found out that two of his friends are Creationists - smacks of oddness to me. First of all, to clarify, I am not a Creationist, I fully believe in Evolution, and maybe even the Big Bang. However, I do realize that Creationists are out there - they are real people, with real jobs, and they eat food, and do things just like everybody else. I had a moment of surprise when I realized that I actually don't know any Creationists (that I'm aware of), especially when, until Darwin, pretty much everyone was a Creationist. Origin of Species (which I need to read) wasn't published until 1859 - only about 150 years ago which is not that long for an idea, especially when it flies in the face of everyone's idea of where animals came from ever. Ever. That's a lot of history to fight, especially when it's not a particularly observable phenomenon.
I do however, think it's a little odd that mutation, like in viruses and bacteria - especially in relation to drug resistance, is commonly accepted, while evolution is commonly not, when it's the same thing. Noone says "Yes this antibiotic will work because every creature was made exactly as it was intended to exist at the dawn of time 7000 years ago." Or, maybe they do. I don't know. Or maybe those are the people who don't go to doctors.
But I'm getting off target.
My point is - Creationists exist. They're out there, doing stuff, and they have every right to believe in whatever they want to believe in so long as they not forcing their beliefs on other people of blowing things up or shooting anyone.
You know, just the same things I expect out of everyone.