Great opportunities

It's been longer than I intended since I've blogged last. Things have been busy, but honestly I've been having a hard time coming up with a post that did not involve whining or worrying about my future. Which is ridiculous because I love my job and the opportunities that have been given to me.

Like sitting down for a chat with Donald Johanson, esteemed anthropologist and "discoverer" of Lucy, the 3.2 million-year-old humanoid, about how great my son was. Well, actually, he asked what we (truth be told, I shared my lunch with several faculty members) thought the best approach was to teach evolution. I suggested using examples from nature, as evidenced by my 3-year old's ability to grasp the concept after watching a one hour show highlighting the species diversity of the Congo River. Apparently the current is so strong that pockets of fish are unable to leave localized areas. As such, these local populations are under extremely strong selective pressure and new species are evolving very rapidly. In any case, after the show I asked my son what he thought about what we had seen. In addition to learning that he thought it was "cool" to see all those different kinds of fish, I asked him why he thought there was such variety in that particular river.

Using logic only available to a child he said that "The fish were living in different areas and their bodies were doing what they normally do (I'm pretty sure he didn't know of Lemarck, and yet still managed to refute his theories), but because the river's different in each place, they end up looking very different." This from a 5 year old....

But I digress. What other job would allow me to meet with people of this caliber? And what other profession would allow me to interact with them on the same level. Very few, I would think. And that is why I love my job and contributions I make, no matter how uncertain my future may seem to me.