Thought for today:
"I was unable to sleep again, so after three or four hours in bed, I got up for my piece of 3.00 am toast and cup of tea. I decided to have a little to eat now, just in case I have the traditional morning sickness that my chemo treatment sometimes produces in the later morning.
As most of you know, my daily thoughts are invariably a spur of the moment reflection on 'this' or 'that', with my mind being usually guided by an image in my head. Sometimes the thought is frivolous and on other occasions serious. It is always truthful, and particularly when I write about my upbringing, I find that it helps me to hold on to the child in me and to never forget the importance of family in one's life.
As I sat down to my toast and tea this early morning, I had an itch so scratched my bum; something my mother was constantly telling me off for as a child.Whenever she saw this irritating habit of mine, she would always spoil my instant gratification by reminding me, 'Billy! Any boy who scratches his behind as often as you do should not bite his fingernails!' Occasionally, she might accuse me of behaving like a chimp in a zoo.
It is no coincidence that mankind and ape are so close a species. It has always been so, that the deepest principle in human nature is a craving to feel appreciated, to feel a part, to feel wanted, protected and loved. Such a feeling is common to all mothers and newborn offspring.
While old time Roman Catholicism led me to reject the scientific discovery of Darwinism as a growing child, I soon came to understand that neither a belief in God or Darwin to be mutually exclusive. I eventually came to learn that our earlier self was not a fallen angel, but a risen ape who learnt to stand upright on its own two feet. I'd like to think that an angel rests within each of us and guards our every moment we do good.
I view the intelligence of the ape as the commencement of our own learning. What a waste it would have been had God created them to do no more than scratch their backside? Were I able to get inside the mind of our ancestor, unlike us humans. If I was able to get inside the mind of our ancestor, unlike us humans, I'd bet that the average ape would never accept that it evolved from man as easily as we are prepared to accept that we evolved from the ape! A century or more ago, people laughed at the idea that they were descended from apes. Today, the only ones offended would be the apes!
Let's face it, folks, at the end of the day, most of the time, we're all no better than talking monkeys with an 'attitude problem'. We are a species, who, over the centuries have merely conditioned ourselves to be too reserved to scratch an itchy bum in public, whoever's watching or taking a photo of the action!" Willliam Forde: March 4th, 2017.
