Today I
learned something interesting.
If you live
in the USA, you know that it’s Lincoln’s birthday. Some argue he was this country’s greatest
President: He led the nation in the
Civil War after several southern states seceded from the Union, and issued the
Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed (but did not end) slavery.
Until I was
in high school, the anniversary of his birth was a national holiday. Schools, banks and other institutions were
closed. The same thing happened on the
22nd, George Washington’s birthday.
In the 1970’s, the two holidays were folded into one Monday observance
known as President’s Day. However,
Lincoln’s Birthday is still observed in New York State.
But I
digress. Today I learned that someone
else who changed the world at least as much as Lincoln did was born on this
date. What’s more, he was born in the
same year.
The 12th
of February in 1809 witnessed the birth of Lincoln—and Charles Darwin. As far as I know, the two men never met. Darwin may have been aware of what Lincoln
was doing in office, but I suspect that Lincoln was not aware of Darwin’s
work. Somehow I imagine that had “Abe”
read The Origins of the Species, he
would have understood its worth and necessity.
In my own
uninformed opinion, Lincoln would not have been a “social Darwinist.” The funny thing is that Darwin himself wasn’t
one. In his writings, he actually said
that species, including humans, have to cooperate and even act altruistically
in order to adapt and survive. That
leads me to believe that most of those who talk about “survival of the fittest”
(a phrase Darwin himself never used until Herbert Spencer coined it) have never
read Darwin’s classic work: They
probably learned nothing more than the comic-book summary most kids learn when
they’re in junior high school. (At least, that’s when we learned it in my
day.) In my own admittedly amateur
reading of Origin, it is a specie’s
ability to adapt and reproduce, not its ruthlessness, that determines its
survival.
Now you
might wonder where this leaves LGBT people.
From my own unbiased ;-) observation, we can adapt to conditions,
whether through confrontation or cooperation.
Plus, I think that we have at least our share of altruism: We are represented disproportionately in the
“helping” professions and among paid workers and volunteers for organizations
and causes that promote social and economic justice.
So, I think
it’s appropriate for us to celebrate this day, the anniversary of the birth of
two people who made the world in which we live—and the means we have to improve
our lot—possible.
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