A strange creature

Octopus, chameleon, mushroom, giraffe…we share the planet with organisms that look more alien than any image that I can conjure. I think that the magnificence of our naturally selected friends, paired with how often we see other humans, causes us to overlook our own weirdness.

Repetition breeds indifference. The more we see or experience something, the less interesting it becomes. It makes sense evolutionarily to not be in constant amazement of our surroundings, but it absolutely strips away some of the magic of existence. A textbook example lies in our indifference towards other members of our own species. Many of us see hundreds to thousands of humans every single day of our lives—the ultimate repetition. As a result, we are usually not fascinated by the sight of another human (unless they look particularly good). On the other hand, we do not often get to see giraffes or chameleons, so we are enthralled by the sight of them. I think that there is an argument to be made that humans are by definition as strange and beautiful as any other creature.

One doesn’t have to think hard to recognize how strange the human being is. Our soft and vulnerable endoskeleton is all that separates our vital organs, blood, skeleton, and brains from the external world.  These bodily components are all carried along bipedally, with additional appendages helping keep balance. We take up a fair amount of space when standing, but are still mostly just appendages, with a small torso hosting our organs. Our overly complex human brains add the additional baggage of anxiety, hopes, fears, loves and desires to the mix. Of course, we could go on indefinitely describing how weird we are.

I write all this in the hope that you will approach your fellow human beings differently today.  At least once, it would be cool to break through the veil of indifference and see someone (or yourself) as what they (or you) really are—a very strange creature. I will do the same. In fact, just thinking about you reading this is creeping me out.

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