Wonders of Intelligent Design

No, I'm not talking about Spore, though that is a fantastic game. I'm just constantly surprised by the amazing things the human body can do. If you're wondering, the answer is yes. I do believe in intelligent design. In regards to who is behind all this - whether it was a guy on a cloud with a long white beard, or prehistoric alien scientists, or even a lonely child in her imagination - or whether or not they're still around, watching us, is something I have yet to decide.

No matter what your belief system, sometimes you've just got to wonder at what we're capable of under the right circumstances. For instance: a few years ago in India a three-year-old was hit by a car and thrown down a flight of steps. He walked away from the scene unharmed. It was all over Youtube. I'm sure you can still find it. After earthquakes one always hears stories of those who survive weeks trapped under rubble. Another good example is that man who was trapped in his basement and was forced to amputate his own arm... without anasthetic!

Then, of course, there are the much more mundane examples of extraordinary examples of the body's "special features". A mother who knows when her child is up to something, a person who can navigate strange cities just by their sense of direction, or people like me, whose biological clocks have a variety of built-in sensors. I once had an alarm clock that instead of playing music blasted an electronic beeping noise. I HATED this alarm clock. In retrospect, I'm not even sure why I kept it for so long. It got to a point where I flinched every time I heard similar noises, like alarms on digital watches or alarm clocks on TV. The noise still gets to me, but back then it was so bad that just hearing it would send me spiraling into a bad mood. One day when I accidentally slept in, I wondered at how the alarm didn't wake me. I then noticed that the alarm wasn't turned on. Thinking I must have forgotten I made certain to double check the alarm the following evening, but upon waking up (late, again) I saw that the alarm was, once again, off. The only reasonable explanation I could find was that my body woke me up before my alarm, and in a subconscious attempt to stop the horrific noise, would turn it off and return to bed.

In a similar vein, we found out that trains pass by our new house very early in the morning, but I have yet to be woken up by the train. Twice this week I've woken up at ridiculous hours to use the restroom - something I never do at night to begin with - only to have a train pass by minutes later, tooting it's very loud whistle. I have no idea what could have done it. I don't know the train schedule, even by experience. The only warning of an oncoming train is the clanging of the railroad crossing sign about a block away where my street intersects the tracks. Thing is, I slept through that the first night because it was malfunctioning and wouldn't turn off despite the abscense of oncoming locomotives. Anyway, perhaps it's something similar to what warns animals of oncoming earthquakes. I just think it's funny that most of my strange stories revolve around sleeping...!

Nostalgically Yours