There is an article in the Science Today section of the NY Times that made me think a bit.  The subject of the article is an artist, Viktor Deak, who with bits and pieces of bones creates displays of how the "beings" known as proto-humans evolved into you and me.  In the article is the statement that all of these early "men" were wiped out in the competition to rule the world as top of the food chain.  The writer makes the case that there is the development from early simple beings to the complex ones who now rule the world, you and me.

What I am getting at is that I do not believe that these early "men" completely disappeared in the march of time.  I do not have proof such as the picturing of these sometimes simian-looking individuals, that they are still among us, but I do suggest that their descendants have somehow survived natural disasters and those having "human" origin still walk near you as you trek the globe.

It is suggested that there are more similarities than differences among the peoples and nations of the world.  I would say that there are similarities AND differences among the people and nations of the world.  We still have those who live by the rules of fang and claw while we are arguing the merits of a Latino woman who grew up in "projects" to sit on a higher court than that upon which she sits right now. I KNOW that Cheney, Limbaugh and Gingrich must be throwbacks to an earlier, more primitive time.

There is a world of difference between people sitting around a fire to cook and keep warm, as some still do today and those of us debating how to achieve a "greener" environment for ourselves who live in a polluted and warming world.  If we were so smart to become homo sapiens, how come we have dirtied and made our world smelly because we dump our wastes into the waters we use in which we wash our hands? That is only one piece of evidence to show early man still roams the world with us.

Just look at the faces and the ways in which other people walk to see how, while we are all bipedal beings, there are many other differences.  I think we all think alike but sometimes I wonder.  I think we all need love and comfort but our record shows that many of us are destructive rather than caretakers of the riches of the world.  We all, those most like us and those most unlike us, have families and let them break up.  We all, those who have skills sometimes use them to smash down those who are still in an earlier phase of development. 

Let there be beauty pageants and talent shows - it depends on where on earth the competition takes place.  Different strokes for different folks, perhaps?