Rica Dela Cruz's blog

Just as the oral version of telling stories has evolved over thousands of years since Homo sapiens came along, the invention of the alphabet and the development of written words have since evolved into written short stories and novels. Like the evolution of organisms, gradually, over thousands of years, human communication and the transmission of stories (and now knowledge) have continued to evolve.

If Darwinian evolution is about the biological changes that species and other organisms undergo to be able to physically and physiologically adapt to their environment, then one could say that communities of people have also, collectively and as separate groups, evolved socially over time. Indeed, since Darwin came out with his theory on the gradual evolution of the species 150 years ago, huge social changes have been made by man as a result of the phenomenal discoveries and inventions he made, particularly during the last century: the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, the computer, electricity, and so forth.

          Although the mystery of human evolution is still being studied today, people have begun to question whether man is still evolving currently and, if so, whether he/she will continue evolving indefinitely. Some have thought that human evolution has slowed down and may even come to a stop at some point in the future. Most scientists, however, believe that humans are still evolving and, indeed, are actually evolving faster now than before. Granted none of us could see evolution taking place, but we have been able to surmise with a degree of certainty that man, over the past several hundred-thousand years, has indeed been evolving from more primitive ancestors.

Whenever someone tries to compare or analyze the underlyingbases for the culture and customs of different races or groups of people, theperson making the comparison or analysis almost always runs the risk of beingcriticized for what appears to be “generalizations” as to why certain groupsbehave, act and think the way they do. It is, therefore, very important for aresearcher doing a study on human behavior, such as a people’s way of thinking,to define at the outset the scope of the study being made and the methodologyto be used.

  Except maybe for those who sell military arms and equipmentsand, therefore, think that "war is good for business," most of us would agreethat war is destructive and has no benefit whatsoever to humanity. The loss ofmillions of lives; the destruction of almost everything that man has built overthe centuries; the millions of people who suffer from major and permanentbodily injuries and loss of limbs; and the traumatic and post-war psychologicalsufferings of both soldiers and civilians (who were in harms way), makes onewonder whether it is ever worth it "to fight for one's country." 

For many of us in this world, love appears to be the sole purpose for living. We live to find and experience love and sometimes even die for love. Human beings appear to have a "genetic clock," such that they mature, fall in love with a mate or several mates, and thereafter spend their adult life having children. Like most other animals, humans appear to have an innate purpose to reproduce. Humans, like other animals, repeat this "life cycle" over and over. However, there appears to be one major difference between man and the rest of the animal kingdom in this life cycle. We seem to make this life cycle even more complex than it really is. It is because of the way in which we love that causes this complexity.

Everyday we come in contact with other people and most of us are able to see and recognize who we are looking at. For example, when I walk across campus to class, I could recognize by face people from my classes. I could distinguish one classmate from another. But just imagine being in class and not being able to recognize the face of your teacher, whom you meet at least twice a week; or imagine not being able to recognize your own roommate in your dorm. Worse, can you imagine looking in the mirror and not being able to recognize your own face?