Being the Change I Wish to See

Charles Darwin, the author of On the Origin of Species and the man who discovered evolution and wrote the scientific doctrine of it, was extremely torn between his faith and love for his wife and the factual science he learned from his many years of study of the data and samples he collected on his 5 year journey on the HMS Beagle. He didn’t publish his book until after his wife’s death because she believed fundamentally in the Bible stories of creation, and they were the underpinnings of her faith.

We now know that evolution is more than a theory and has been studied thoroughly for more than 150 years. In 150 years, no one has found any defensible evidence that disproves Darwin’s theory of evolution. People have attempted to make up evidence, but none has been found using the scientific method.

No one bought “Creation” to distribute and show in U.S. theaters because they thought there might be right-wing backlash? Schools take backlash for teaching evolution all the time. Theaters can’t risk a little backlash, even in progressive cities like New York, Boston, San Francisco or LA? Wussies. Since when did the art world become noncontroversial?

Rachel’s point is a vitally important one. What does this attitude mean for the U.S. long-term? Has America decided facts are no longer important? The Republicans surely seem to have decided that over the past 8-9 years. By deciding that the study of facts and rational thought are not important, where will that lead the country 20-30 years from now? Will there once again be only 4 elements instead of 118? Will medicine devolve into the study of the humors (blood, bile, phlegm) again? This fact-free attitude scares me, too.

But it doesn’t scare me too much because the people who spout the vitriol about Darwin and evolution being the truth are a very noisy, but rather small minority of Americans. The problem is we have a silent majority. The majority needs to stand up, shout out the facts and drown out the wing-nuts once in a while. The loud minority seems to live within their own little world so much that they don’t know a much bigger world that vastly outnumbers them is out here.

I don’t believe that the majority of mainstream Americans disregard facts. A fair number of Americans either don’t believe evolution is the factual explanation or aren’t sure. If you add those two groups together, the result is larger than the number who believe it is the truth, making them the minority. But most of the people who aren’t sure say so because they haven’t studied biology and admit they aren’t sure because they don’t know the facts.

I don’t believe there will be fewer scientists in the future, there will probably be more. Schools today focus a lot harder on teaching 4 maths and 4 sciences in high school, algebra 1 & 2, geometry, advanced math, physical science, biology, chemistry and physics. Four English classes are also required now. In my generation, 1-2 sciences, 2 maths and 3 English courses were required if you weren’t college bound. Most students today are college bound, even if it’s a 2-year associate degree from a community college. Colleges are still filling up with young minds desiring lots of facts and hard, rational thought.

Even Catholic schools today teach evolution as the facts in biology and leave Biblical creation in religion class. Some southern Baptist preachers have stopped insisting the Bible’s creation stories are facts. They are stories that were told to primitive, semi-nomadic people to explain things they couldn’t understand. What do we do when we don’t understand something? We either ignore it or we make up stories to tell ourselves that make some sort of sense to us.

Understanding the real mechanisms (processes) of how the universe came to be, understanding the human body and modern medicine, and understanding and delving deeper into chemistry and physics in no way means one can’t still have deep faith in God. As a scientist myself, I believe God is much bigger, more complex and much harder to fathom than He was before modern science. It doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist. Personally, I believe God created the big bang and evolution. I never bought the “poof” theory of the Bible creation stories. Nothing on this planet or in the universe that we have studied happens without a process.

But going as far as not showing a movie in the U.S. about the writer of the Theory of Evolution and his dilemma between his faith and the facts he couldn’t ignore? Ridiculous!

Hopefully, “Creation” will be available for rent or purchase on DVD…

Technorati Tags: choosing to ignore facts, Creation the movie, creationism v evolution, Darwin, facts v fact-freedom

written by joubess \\ tags: choosing to ignore facts, Creation the movie, creationism v evolution, Darwin, facts v fact-freedom

Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt–Ancient Roman Gladiators’ motto adopted by Modern Special Olympians

Eunice Kenney Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics and prime mover of civil rights, education and health legislation for the mentally disabled, died on August 11, 2009. She spent 48 years of her life working tirelessly in making the world a far better place for her special friends. She was 88. She started it all with her sister, Rosemary, and in 1963 in her own back yard with the first camp she held for mentally disabled children and young adults. Her work led to civil rights legislation, including the ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act – for all disabled persons.

Watch this 10 minute tribute video of her life and contributions to the world:

The Special Olympics is very dear to me. I volunteered at the July 1983 Sixth International Special Olympics Summer Games held at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where I was a college student. A crowd of more than 60,000 attended the Opening Ceremonies and approximately 4,000 athletes participated.

Mrs. Shriver had all of us shouting for joy and crying tears of joy at the opening and closing ceremonies. It was a true honor to see and hear her speak in person, and to see the passion she had for her athletes. She made an effort to meet as many athletes personally as she could, and I’m sure there were few at that time who had not met her. Everyone on the team I worked with had met Mrs. Shriver. They were from Baltimore, MD. I still have the Orioles baseball cap they gave each of us.

That is a week I will never forget. That week transformed me from a fence-sitter to an aspiring advocate, and it taught me that giving your time and energy are more important than just giving money. Anyone can write a check, and we are grateful to all those who do. But it takes commitment and effort to get out there and do the hard things that need to be done to effect real change.

I didn’t continue with Special Olympics after college. I started volunteering in my community with Mid City Fix-up, an organization supported by my past employer. Local corporations provide the money, supplies and labor needed to repair and maintain houses downtown that our local elderly own and can no longer maintain without help. We were given time off our jobs to work within our community. I also volunteered with the local United Way and I gave the super-share amount out of my paycheck each pay period. I also volunteered each time a “Day of Caring” was available.

After being laid off from the chemical industry, I’ve volunteered at the food bank, during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita doing whatever was needed of me (mostly by the Red Cross), and then began volunteering in the public schools my son attended. When I began homeschooling my son, I started volunteering in local politics and was very active in the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Now I volunteer with Organize for America, a Democratic grass roots organization to work on the community level to effect national change. It’s flexible so I can fit it into my hectic work schedule with two businesses.

Mrs. Shriver’s legacy has changed the world for the better, made huge differences in millions of lives worldwide, and will continue to do so. Last week on NPR’s All Things Considered, there was a story about the partnering of Special Olympians with regular Olympians and a tribute to Eunice Kennedy Shriver. You can listen to the 3 minute broadcast at that link.

If you are looking for an opportunity to get involved in your community, there is probably a Special Olympics organization close by. I hope you will give generously and more importantly, volunteer, with them. If you already have a cause you support, I hope Mrs. Shriver’s example will encourage you to go the extra mile and make a bigger difference in your cause. For anyone who hasn’t volunteered before, I strongly encourage you to find a place in your community to volunteer and make where you live a better place. The time you spend will be worth more than you can ever imagine.

Do you have a story about your experience with Special Olympics or a mentally disabled family member or friend? Do you have a story about another cause? Please tell us about it in the comments.

Mrs. Shriver, thank you for everything you’ve done for so many throughout the world, and Godspeed. You will be greatly missed, but those you organized and trained to carry on your legacy are well prepared to step up and continue your work.

Technorati Tags: Eunice Kenney Shriver, Philanthropy, Special Olympics, volunteer

written by joubess \\ tags: Eunice Kenney Shriver, Philanthropy, Special Olympics, volunteer