Carolyn and I are going to a wedding this weekend. Two of our neighbors are gonna tie the knot. Events like this are a cause for celebration, when the bride and groom are old enough and wise enough to choose a compatible mate, and this is just the sort of thing that provides a reason for me to pause and consider the world I live in.
It made me think of Paul and Marlene, ancestors of mine - and yours also - who were the very first couple to really make a difference in our lives. They were very small, looked a whole lot like rats with long noses and lived sixty-five million years ago.
Others of their species were around at the time, but Paul and Marlene were special. Those two, of all the couples on the entire planet, managed to produce an unbroken line of DNA and genes that thrives in every one of the cells in our bodies to this very day. All the rest fell by the wayside, lost for all of time and history.
Working together they were able to dodge the feet and claws of the dinosaurs, their neighbors, all the way up until the day the comet fell into the Gulf of Mexico. Not only were they able to survive by looking out for each other and caring about their mate more than about their own safety, they managed to raise their offspring.
Luckily, they were deep in their den when the comet landed and blew away almost every living thing that was standing outside at the time, watching it fall. They and their youngsters were left to inherit the world. It's been a struggle ever since then - the strongest managed to survive the perils of their times, the weaklings fell by the wayside.
Just like Bill and Julie will be, Paul and Marlene were married to each other. Sixty-five million years ago it took the combined efforts of the pair of them to forage for food, raise their young and insure their genes, the ones that survive in our own bodies to this day, were passed from them to us. Just as it take a pair of humans, committed to each other, to survive the challenges we face every day in 2011.
Back then the world was a very dangerous place, filled with teeth and claws that in one unguarded moment could maim or kill in an instant. It's the same today but the teeth and claws have been replaced with words and contracts. Today is the same as it was back then - the monsters are still out there waiting to pounce and kill. The only difference is the monsters today are armed bandits or wear expensive suits and smile while shaking our hands, stealing all that's in our wallets, and assuring there will be a place for us on a Salvation Army cot. Maybe.
I wish luck to my neighbors, and hope for a long and successful union for them. It really does take two people to deal with this world. One to watch the front and left side, the other to watch the back and right. When one is down, the other will carry his mate. Two together will survive. A loner will perish. They are starting off on the right foot; they have known and respected each other for years, have dealt with the world as a team for quite a while, and are sure of the love they have for each other.
I look around and see so much loneliness and sorrow. People join and then split without a thought about the consequences of either action. Families are begun and then abandoned with no care for the troubled chldren of a broken union.
It is truly a wonder that two people can see this happening all around them and still have the courage and confidence to commit to each other. I rejoice for them and I'm sure their ancient ancestors, Paul and Marlene, join in the celebration. After all, they are the grandparents.
Please join me in wishing them well.
Please extend my good wishes to Bill and Julie. It takes courage in these times to enter into a relationship where the success ratio is not very encouraging. So I admire their courage and wish them well. I love the thread of your story, from the first "couple" to this contemporary duo, but I disagree that it takes two in order to deal with the world. A strong woman, with a wee bit of the "essence" of a man can not only give birth to a child, but provide for that child and keep it safe. Women are not only nuturing, but also the stronger of the sexes -- not so much in brute strength as in fortitude and durability, which is why more of us survive at birth as well as typically living longer. It is my belief that millions of years from now -- if men don't poison it or blow it all to hell in the meantime -- the species that roams the earth will be females who are able to reproduce without any assistance from males. The scientific term is Parthenogenesis. When our world evolves to that form of reproduction, I suspect peace will reign throughout the lands ... what's left of them.
ReplyDeleteBut B L, what would life be like for a woman who never hears a wolf whistle or two?
ReplyDeleteIt would be quiet and peaceful. Besides ... wolf whistles are actually demeaning.
ReplyDeleteSorry - Guess I'm still stuck in the Neanderthal Era........
ReplyDeleteAren't you lucky, then, to have someone show you the way out of the forest.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to your friends, indeed, Forrest. It is a hard world, and two who are committed to each other are so much better off than one alone.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course there's that minor detail about continuing the race, although not all of us have to. Still, we can't let Paul and Marlene down after all this time!