Winter Season

Neotenous

Oscar set in the teachers lounge staring at a sandwich; neotenous was written at the top of his notebook page. He had scribbled, are we really just animals? Esther’s generalization of humanity bothered him.

Connor (Mr. Miller to his students) sat down with Oscar. It wasn’t until he spoke that Oscar was aware of his presents. “I got your message.”

Oscar slowly looked up at him. “Thanks. As a biology teacher, how do you feel about people being called animals?”

Connor unpacked his lunch as Oscar spoke, tearing hungrily at his sandwich. When Oscar finished speaking, Connor looked up with a piece of lettuce sticking out of the corner of his mouth. He smiled, removing the lettuce with his tongue. “Well, if you take away our minds, our capability of moral thought and free will what’s left?”

Oscar smiled despite himself. Connor’s removal of the lettuce had left a spot of mayo behind. Oscar pointed at the corner of his mouth to let Connor know something was still hanging around. He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I’m eating like a wolf because the wife has me on a diet. The doctor chewed me up one side and down the other ‘cause of my blood pressure.”

“We can talk later if you would prefer?”

“No, no.” He said chewing. “I like this kind of conversation. But we might need to invite a preacher to join in. This could go sideways and get offensive in a hurry.”

“That’s not why I’m asking.”

“Then why are you asking?” Connor opened a bag of low sodium potato chips. “Gross.” But he was eating them anyway.

“I guess it bothered me more than I realized that someone would boil humanity down to our baser instincts.”

“Humans are classified as mammals.” Connor eyed Oscar’s sandwich. Oscar pushed it over to him. “Are you sure, man?” He peeled back the bread. “Bologna! Yes! My wife would die.” He got up bringing back a few mustard packets from the fridge.

Oscar handed him his lunch bag, “help yourself.”

“Oh man. I love you.”

“How do you feel about humans being neotenous?”

“Juvenile?” He questioned as he ate Oscar’s banana. “I might have chosen a different term. Such as juvenile or childish. What brought on the use of the word? Was someone trying to seem smarter than they are?”

Oscar thought about that. It stung a little. She seemed smart to him. Her comment about acid rain. She defended him in front of his brother. Yes! Yes, she was smart. Was it really important?

Connor shook Oscar’s lunch bag, praying more food would fall out. Sadly, it didn’t. “I hate being on a diet.” He huffed. “We humans have put ourself on a pedestal,” he spoke as he put Oscar’s bag back on the table, “we are at the top of the food chain. About the only thing that can bring us down is another human, being out of our element, or as Covid should teach us, a bug.”

“Am I being cocky that this unsettles me?”

“Weelll,” Dr. Mike turned around. Then moved to their table. Dr. Mike was the school psychologist. “I know this is not my conversation.” He offered Connor and Oscar individually wrapped cakes. “Cost of admission?”

Connor snatched it out of his hand, “god yes.” He moaned as he sank his teeth into the processed sweetness of the snack.

Oscar and Dr. Mike smiled at each other as Connor made quick work of the cake.

“An interesting conversation is hard to find these days. If I may,” he looked at Oscar’s notebook, “could the use of this word not be about the word at all?”

“Why would it not be?” Oscar asked.

“We can see from Connor that, normal behavior is bypassed when we add or take something away that we are used to.” He held up the wrapper that once housed the cake.

Connor blushed, “I normally don’t eat like a rabid wolf .”

“Being on a diet has modified his behavior. So perhaps the use of this word is trying to expose something you’ve long since buried. The mind,” he pointed at his head. “Is amazing. We take this amazing organ for granted.”

Oscar wrote in his notebook, neotenous = juvenile = childish = silly? Play. Playing? Playful? Being playful?

Humanity = mammal = animal.

The 10 minute warning bell rang. Connor excused himself. “If you feel the need to continue this conversation, please let me know.”

“Of course. Thank you.” Oscar flashed a smile.

“I really don’t think that the second part of that equation is your problem.” Oscar didn’t look up at Dr. Mike. “Enjoy the rest of your day.” He leaned over whispering in Oscar’s ear. “She’s gotten under your skin?” Oscar locked eyes with him when he raised up. He winked at Oscar as he left.

As Oscar looked around the lounge, 3 teachers were staring at him. When they realized he saw them, their heads snapped back to their lunches. The sound of a rubber band snapping into place after being fully extended played through his mind. Nosy, he thought.

Winter Season

Are humans animals? – BBC Science Focus Magazine

https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/humans-are-mammals/