The Gemstone Unpolished

Evolution is a remarkable beast. It surrounds us completely and yet to see it distinctly is impossible. It bestows upon us gifts that have allowed us to rise from the inorganic matter of the Earth. From a handful of molecules, evolution was birthed into this world as, truly, an infant. Many believe this infancy was simply a self renewing pool of chemicals, others a primal RNA, and yet others claim we can never know. While man cannot, and perhaps will never, understand how the birth of life itself came to be, we can relish in the fruits evolution has bore. From the primordial ooze we were given the Archaebaceria, the Prokaryotes, and eventually the wonderfully more sophisticated Eukaryotic organisms. Of all her ancient lineages, it is no secret evolution prized the Eukaryotic cell. She embraced the nucleus as the jeweler embraces a wonderful, yet unfaceted, stone. The nucleus bore possibility, wonder, and the potential of a masterpiece. But observe most gemstones and you will find a flaw, whether in the workmanship of the faceting or the stone itself, that blemishes the otherwise perfect. What is the perfect gemstone? What size is it? What color is it? How does it reflect light?

With man, evolution sought to answer these questions. What size? Roughly six feet, give or take, she decided was optimal. What color? black or white, depending on the surroundings. Man is a stone that changes his color to the situation. How do we produce our luster? Physiology is a vast, and utterly amazing field that explains the intricacies of man's facet. So are we not the perfect gemstone? Unfortunately, it is not so simple. Despite the infinite wonder of evolution, the meticulous polishing, evolution is a process that cannot reach completion. Though you may polish the largest blemishes from the surface, there are always smaller ones waiting... spoiling your perfect reflection. We are no different. When her two sons collided, evolution gave both their own weapons and bid them to an internal struggle; as prokaryotic organisms have evolved to invade our bodies, we evolve to remove them. As man breached the twilight of his lifespan, evolution worked meticulously to lengthen it. The problem, of course, is that as I have said, evolution is not a goal it is a perpetual state. It is a function of time, and simply put there was not enough time for evolution to finish her greatest creation. Instead, we have simply come to be a gemstone unpolished, magnificent in so many ways and yet unavoidably flawed. Cancers, viruses, and age all tarnish what evolution worked so hard to perfect. We struggle mightily to finish what she started, but so far our attempts seem so incredibly feeble. How can we possibly hone in our short decades what evolution built in millions of years? How will we ever imitate a heart, a single simple motor, that runs unwaveringly for 100 years? Or a joint capsule that absorbs every step you take with virtually no wear? Perhaps some day, our guided approach will bring us closer to that perfect organism. Until that day, we will remain incomplete... a work in progress. We are the statue half chiseled, the painting half painted, a story without an ending. A gemstone unpolished.