Sorry I haven’t blogged for a while. One of my five children, my eldest son, Erik, passed away in October and frankly, even getting out of bed is a chore. Getting the mail, putting on makeup, eating…it all seems trivial, meaningless and pointless. But because I have such wonderful kids and a loving husband, all of whom need me, I march on, one foot in front of the other, trying to find and pass along strength. I am getting better as are the other family members. However, we don’t make a habit of turning down thoughts and prayers from well-wishers.

Now for today’s rant. After some mental rumination, I’ve come to the conclusion that Darwin was full of crap. Sure, he may have been right about that whole “survival of the fittest” thing, but announcing his theories to the world has done great harm. Although his publication preceded the Industrial Revolution by a number of decades, it wasn’t until the Industrial Age that society, particularly the West, began to use Darwinism as blatant justification for greed. In the name of this new “bible,” companies began to exploit the world, shaping a contentious landscape of dog-eat-dog commercialism and a new world view of competitive commerce. Industrialists have since created industrial environments as proof that Darwin was right, that hostile competition paves the way to a better society for everyone. And these industrialists have us convinced, because we all seek the best…the “new and improved.” Furthermore, we insist that companies provide us with those or lose to the competition. Although there may be benefits to this in terms of “progress,” has Industrial Darwinism defined our conception of such progress? What about spiritual progress? What about evolving in attributes such as compassion and understanding? What about striving to be a “new and improved” human being? What about working together in harmony to create a better world rather than fight one another in the mistaken belief that this will improve the lot of everyone? That said, I believe Darwin’s theory rationalized our need to compete, creating two divisions in our society: winners and losers. This, in turn, rationalized the human greed responsible for fueling the Industrial Revolution. Comments, even spirited and dissenting ones, are welcome.