Oh lord, help me teach my mother about evolution. Lead her away from creationism. God? Are you there God?
Well if he’s gone I’m sure the teeming millions will be able to help me. In the never ending quest to teach my mother about evolution she just flatly refuses. Today she said, “After the dinosaurs all died how did life just start?” I don’t know, but I’m sure there is a logical explanation for it. Help me out, ok?
Another thing she said is, “The dog didn’t evolve, it was always a dog, so why did people evolve?” The dog did evolve didn’t she? I’m sure she did. I say, mom it’s a slow process but it’s proven. Oh well.
Well, some potential answers two her first question are:
The dinosaurs didn’t all die. Some people think that birds are direct descendents of some type of dinosaur. She is also mistaken in thinking that dinosaurs were the only type of animal alive at the time or that all animals died in the extinction that killed off the dinosaurs. All modern animals had some ancestor living at that time. Some animals alive today have changed very little since then (e.g., crocodiles and some other reptiles.)
I’m not sure what she means about the dog. I’m sure someone with a greater expertise can talk about what we know about the ancestors of modern dogs.
Has she ever been to a natural history museum? They often have good displays about how modern animals are related to their predecessors.
Take her to a library and get her some books on agriculture and animal husbandry. Farmers work their tails off breeding new varieties of wheat and corn. Ranchers develop new breeds of cattle, horses, sheep, etc. Flower growers are always cultivating new strains of roses and orchids. That’s how evolution works. The human-guided variety of evolution turned a wolf-like ancestor into my grandmother’s chihuahua.
The death of the dinosaurs didn’t wipe out all life…just everything above water bigger than a housecat. Lots of species survived–scavengers and insectivores thrived, and evolved into the critters you see today.
Not to be rude, but are we talking about someone who just needs the facts, or someone who’s paradigms simply don’t accept evolution? I tried to explain evolution to some people, and it’s like trying to explain how if the world is round why people don’t fall off the bottom.