Natural Selection

To open today's post with anything but an apology (or a least an explanation) for the absence of Monday's post would be nothing but rude. My body seems to think that it's in holiday mode and to a certain extent it is. I've had my last classes of the academic year and I've got a whole 6 weeks to play with before my exams come around - who can blame me for missing a 'Me on Mondays' post? Well if anyone can then it would be myself and I do and to be perfectly (and selfishly) honest, the only person I have to answer to is me so if anyone missed out on Monday then it was yours truly. On top of that, a Monday post requires something interesting to have happened in my recent life or at least for something interesting to have occurred to me about myself and nothing really has since last week. Silence is golden and short of blowing my own trumpet (again) I didn't really have anything to write about anyway. But anyway, moving on to today's post which will hopefully make up for a quiet week. As I reached for my 5th or 6th cup of coffee yesterday I wondered to myself if there might be a more natural way to wake myself up. That, in turn, got me thinking about what is actually 'natural' - it turns out that it was a bigger question than I originally thought.

Yesterday was one of those coffee drinking days where I wasn't in need of an energy boost or for something just to keep my eyes open; I was just drinking it firstly for the taste and secondly just for the sake of it. But there are days (as readers of some of my earlier posts will know) where I'll throw a few mugs down my neck to make me perform better and to heighten my concentration and productivity. I know that excessive coffee drinking (as with excessive alcohol consumption) isn't good for you so I decided on a quick Google search: 'natural alternatives to coffee/caffeine'. It seemed sensible until I found myself on websites that were telling me that my liver was about to explode and that another cup of coffee would make me bleed out of my fingertips - I took this advice with a pinch of salt and whacked the kettle back on. It was then that it occurred to me that maybe this habit of drinking too much coffee (or more specifically the reason why I drink too much) is perfectly natural. If human beings are natural then why, by extension, are some of the things that they do not? Is there even such a thing as 'unnatural' then?

I dabble a lot with thinking - call me crazy but I enjoy it. I suck at arguing the toss when it comes to something borderline or controversial but if you give me a pen and some paper and leave me in peace I'll have something fairly convincing down in no time. By asking myself if there is nothing unnatural in the world because everything is done by the most natural things on earth, I brought a wry smile to my face. However standing at a fairly early stage in my idea, my best argument for it is that it's only because I say so. Not that I'm being big-headed and I know the answer to every question off the cuff though, but simply because there is a question to be asked here. If there was no question then I must be wrong but there is so there must be a chance that my concept could grow arms and legs.

If you hear some say that something is unnatural, take a step back and think about what they are talking about. To put it another way, who are we to decide what is natural and what isn't? 'Things' happen because people make them happen; people are the very reason why we're all here and are the most 'natural' things on earth therefore everything we do is 'natural' or 'normal' - I guess you could call is some kind of 'extra-natural'. What is natural for one person might not be for another but the fact that one human does it must mean it's natural anyway.

I may well have something of a biased view in this area. After all, I am trying to come up with a reason that will make my excessive coffee consumption alright. It may well be bad for me but the fact that I decide to do it day in day out makes it fine under my theory. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that, even though I'm abusing my body, it's perfectly natural for me to do so. We all have to make choices (see my policy and operational decisions post for a riveting yet confusing look at that side of life) but what I'm trying to say is that whatever we decide to do, whatever we decide to make and whatever we find out from other people, everything is completely natural.

I hope you've enjoyed today's post and have forgiven me for Monday's silence - it's only natural that I miss a day now and then.

Thanks,

Martin