|:: The Great Lessons|
Do you remember the Time Line of Life? At the end of the time line was a narrow red line and a picture of a human being. You also saw the red line on the Black Strip. This red line showed the length of time that human beings have been on the earth. Human beings appeared on the earth after many other living creatures had come before them. Seaweeds and other plants had flourished in the seas. Tiny creatures had filled the oceans and purified their waters. Later, these creatures became larger, developed shells, then bones and spinal cords. Some plants and animals moved onto the land. Animals became better at taking care of their young. Plants used the sun, water, and minerals from the soil to grow their fruits and seeds. Human beings could only come when the earth was ready for them. There was food for them to find, thick carpets of grass for them to walk upon, and under the ground were vast stores of minerals that they would one day learn to use. Today I want to tell you more about human beings, the kind of life on the earth that is just like you and me.
The world of the first human beings was filled with giant cave lions and cave bears. In that ancient world, the first people found many different kinds of plants growing. Those first humans came into the world without sharp teeth that could be used for defense. They had no sharp claws that would help them to climb trees out of reach of danger, to dig for roots to eat and to catch other creatures for food. They had no way of knowing which fruits were good to eat, and which were poisonous.
Animals are born with this sort of knowledge. Each kind of animal finds and eats the food that suits it. Each type of animal is able to protect itself in its own way. Lions eat meat, not grass, and they use their teeth and claws to protect themselves. Deer eat grass. They could never eat meat! And they can run very quickly to avoid the creatures that hunt them. Each animal has its own way of life, and each knows automatically what to do. Each was especially adapted to live in a certain type of environment. The lion needed grassy plains - it could never survive in the ice and snow of the frigid north. The deer were at home on the forests. Imagine a deer trying to live its life in a river! It just wouldn't work!
The first human beings were not born knowing what to eat, or how to protect themselves. They were not particularly suited for any particular area of the earth. Human beings were quite like other animals in other ways. They were mammals, which meant that they had hair, gave birth to live babies and nursed them with milk afterwards. But they were also very different from the animals in some important ways. Because of these differences, the first people survived in the world that they found.
The first human beings walked on two feet, and this freed their hands so that they could work with them, making things, and caring for their children and playing. Imagine how difficult it would be if this weren't so. How could you hold a pencil, or carry anything that you needed, if you had to use your hands and your feet in order to walk!
Look at your hand. Your thumb is a wonderful thing! It can cross your palm to reach your fingers. (demonstrate the opposable thumb as you speak) You can pick up the most delicate of shells with just your thumb and forefinger because of this, or you can squeeze your hands tightly around the branch of a tree, and suspend yourself in the air! No other creature can do the things that humans can do with their hands. What animal can thread a needle, drive a car safely through the city, or paint a beautiful picture? Only human beings, who have those wonderful hands, can do such things!
Another important gift that the first human beings had was a larger, more complex brain. With this brain, human beings could think about things. Their intelligence led them to wonder about all that they saw around them. They wondered why the rain fell, and what the stars were. They wondered about the great rumbling of thunder in the sky, and they wondered what caused