Thursday, June 10, 2004
The Mighty Polar Bear
If you look below this post, you will see a picture of a magnificent polar bear that lives at the zoo near my home.
Polar bears have always captured my imagination, and more so as I study evolution. The reason is because the polar bear is a perfect example of evolutionary thinking running amok.
We tend to over classify things in science, and strip life of its beauty. Religion can tend to do thr opposite, assign endless luster to life, only to miss the cold truths about chance, physics, and biology.
The polar bear stands a a sign of science's problem. It is easy to use the polar bear as an example of a mammal that appears to be in a transitional stage. It lives a very marine life, yet it also enjoys total freedom of movement on "dry" land. Is it a great fish that has come ashore, or a great beast that has slowly began a descent to fish?
The truth of the matter is you need to forget "becoming." It is about what the bear "is." He is a polar bear, and is the best polar bear he can be. He fishes and swims when he needs, and lays about and walks on land when he needs. He frolics in the water, and chases down seals on the tundra. He isn't imperfect or brimming with evolutionary potential. He is in his niche, and surviving because he is what he is.
I use this illustration a bit on loan from a favorite author of mine, but also I embellish it a bit to make a human point. I have a very good friend who I have shared this with in the last 6 months, and more than anyone I see the "polar bear" in her. She is almost perfect in every way, yet it would also be easy to say this person is moving between two "forms." The problem is that while I shared it with her, I have not exactly applied it to myself.
A lot of us are confused about what we are, myself included. We worry about what we could have been (my favorite trick), or waste days daydreaming of what we could be. In reality life is about doing. It is cliche, but it is about stepping out on that uncertain path, and enjoying the journey. The destination is almost moot. The polar bear does not worry about waking up in a different wing of the taxonomy display at the Smithsonian. Cladistics do not define who the polar bear is. Instead, he wakes up and swims, eats, and sleeps, and does his "polar bear thang."
Let's use my friend the polar bear as a rallying point. Let's be the best (inset your name here) you can be, and stop worrying about the should-have-been's and could-be's. If you want to do something, step out and do it. Take the risk. Deal with the consequences. And lastly, enjoy the benefit from living life to its fullest.
This is the attitude I want to take into the remainder of my life. This year has been a real turning point for me, and as I look ahead to Pharmacy School, and life beyond, I am filled with great excitement. But I don;t want to look too far. I want to enjoy my life now, so that it doesn't slip away. I want to maximize my time with my friends, who may not always be around. I want to take time to stop and smell the roses, no matter how lame that sounds.
So, fellow polar bears, let's get ready to face our lives day by day, and with the certainty that we are exactly who and what we are meant to be today. There is always mystery, discovery, and hope that comes with daily living. Let's not forget to enjoy it.
See ya!
Polar bears have always captured my imagination, and more so as I study evolution. The reason is because the polar bear is a perfect example of evolutionary thinking running amok.
We tend to over classify things in science, and strip life of its beauty. Religion can tend to do thr opposite, assign endless luster to life, only to miss the cold truths about chance, physics, and biology.
The polar bear stands a a sign of science's problem. It is easy to use the polar bear as an example of a mammal that appears to be in a transitional stage. It lives a very marine life, yet it also enjoys total freedom of movement on "dry" land. Is it a great fish that has come ashore, or a great beast that has slowly began a descent to fish?
The truth of the matter is you need to forget "becoming." It is about what the bear "is." He is a polar bear, and is the best polar bear he can be. He fishes and swims when he needs, and lays about and walks on land when he needs. He frolics in the water, and chases down seals on the tundra. He isn't imperfect or brimming with evolutionary potential. He is in his niche, and surviving because he is what he is.
I use this illustration a bit on loan from a favorite author of mine, but also I embellish it a bit to make a human point. I have a very good friend who I have shared this with in the last 6 months, and more than anyone I see the "polar bear" in her. She is almost perfect in every way, yet it would also be easy to say this person is moving between two "forms." The problem is that while I shared it with her, I have not exactly applied it to myself.
A lot of us are confused about what we are, myself included. We worry about what we could have been (my favorite trick), or waste days daydreaming of what we could be. In reality life is about doing. It is cliche, but it is about stepping out on that uncertain path, and enjoying the journey. The destination is almost moot. The polar bear does not worry about waking up in a different wing of the taxonomy display at the Smithsonian. Cladistics do not define who the polar bear is. Instead, he wakes up and swims, eats, and sleeps, and does his "polar bear thang."
Let's use my friend the polar bear as a rallying point. Let's be the best (inset your name here) you can be, and stop worrying about the should-have-been's and could-be's. If you want to do something, step out and do it. Take the risk. Deal with the consequences. And lastly, enjoy the benefit from living life to its fullest.
This is the attitude I want to take into the remainder of my life. This year has been a real turning point for me, and as I look ahead to Pharmacy School, and life beyond, I am filled with great excitement. But I don;t want to look too far. I want to enjoy my life now, so that it doesn't slip away. I want to maximize my time with my friends, who may not always be around. I want to take time to stop and smell the roses, no matter how lame that sounds.
So, fellow polar bears, let's get ready to face our lives day by day, and with the certainty that we are exactly who and what we are meant to be today. There is always mystery, discovery, and hope that comes with daily living. Let's not forget to enjoy it.
See ya!
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