The Beginnings of Life

Kim had to observe a couple classes this past Tuesday.  So I reclaimed my title of King of the Two-Hour Lunch and hung with the boys during the early afternoon.  We caught a warm February afternoon and fell into Kim's routine.  Food and dogs as soon as we got home.  Both boys had the standard fare.  Nothing for Jack and a tortilla and cheese for Lucas.  Actually neither boy ate.  Lucas made the mistake of taking a bite before we got out the door so naturally he had a meltdown over the fact that he wouldn't have a whole one to eat on the walk.  I'll do a lot for the boys, but I can't encourage such behavior.  So I ate it and like the last little piggy, he had none.

Lucas is a bright kid.  He already knows where babies come from.  On our walk he became more insightful.  He asked where the first baby came from?  He knew babies came from mommies' tummies, but wanted to know where the first came from?  A deep thought for a five-year old, or so I think.

Well I was on the spot.  Like politics, I don't want to poison the well too much on religion.  So I stalled, I told him that was a good question and that I was really impressed with him for asking. I also told him what I believe to be the truth - that no one knows for sure.  We aren't all science teachers and theologians.

I told him some people think it was magic, deftly covering most religions in one stroke.  I didn't want to poison the religion well too much,  I don't think that was a fatal dose.  Though, I don't think it covered Voodoo.  Come to think of it however, it's my understanding that Voodoo is more a collection of superstitions than an actual religion.  Of course I mean no disrespect to anyone with a Troy doll and a sharp needle.  My mistake, obviously.

Mysticism thus shunted aside I turned to the next obvious answer, aliens.  That didn't garner as much attention as I expected.  He may not have been listening.

That left the hard one.  Evolution.  Balancing my education with my memory, Lucas' attention span and the amount of detail I wanted to try to push I chose to start with giraffes and their long necks.  That didn't get me anywhere so I went right to the beginning.  The primordial soup. I'll save the Big Bang for another walk.

I thought I was chugging along pretty good with one celled organisms, which were of course followed by "What's an organism?"  But eventually we got to dinosaurs and Lucas opined his own theory:

A stegosaurus made the first wooden boy and girl from a fallen fence and then other dinosaurs made the other people.

Clearly a more entertaining explanation than mine.  But I couldn't leave him disillusioned.  I HAD to point out that there couldn't have been a fence, since there was no one there to build it. Yes, I saw my mistake - that if a stegosaurus could build a person then milling lumber would be child's play.  Lucas, however, had a different explanation.  It was a "building fence."

I don't know what that means.  Maybe I'll ask on our next walk.