Darwin Awards
I just received a question, about whether I knew anything about what Darwin Awards were?
Well, as it happens I do.
In the midst of tales of gloom and doom, but also stories of amazing hope, courage and possibility, I thought that I should share with you their origin, despite, of course, wanting nothing to do with them.
The Darwin Award carries no monetary reward, just some recognition. Often posthumously. It is an honor given to people whose questionable judgment leads them inadvertently to improve the human gene pool by removing themselves from it.
The Darwin Awards have an amusing website, though the outcomes of some of the events were not amusing in the slightest.
They include Russian soldiers who found a canister containing a white powder on a garbage dump. Presumably Russian mothers do not tell their sons to avoid unknown white powders on military garbage dumps. The soldiers decided to use said powder as a substitute for talcum powder and as something to smoke. Sad to say, the white powder in question was thallium, and putting it on your skin or worse yet in your lungs is suboptimal.
Other "winners" tried things like juggling a hand grenade; jumping out of a plane to film sky divers but forgetting to wear a parachute; and using a cigarette lighter to illuminate a fuel tank to make sure that it contained nothing flammable. The list is a long one.
But I have a question: if such foolish behavior will likely remove the perpetrator from the gene pool, how come that there are still so many silly things going on around the world??
Discuss.
Dr. Richard G. Petty, MD is a world-renowned authority on the brain, and his revolutionary work on human energy systems has been acclaimed around the globe.
He is also an accredited specialist in internal and metabolic medicine, endocrinology, psychiatry, acupuncture and homeopathy. He has been an innovator and leader of the human potential movement for over thirty years and is also an active researcher, teacher, writer, professional speaker and broadcaster. He is the author of five books, including the groundbreaking and best selling CD series Healing, Meaning and Purpose. He has taught in over 45 countries and 48 states in the last ten years, but spends as much time as possible on his horse farm in Georgia.
