On the Brink

True to my previous post, I did go out of my way to watch Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan, and it's an even finer movie than I remembered. Circumventing the need to pay actual money to watch it, I was quick to do a search on Kazaa, and within moments, started downloading the Sci-Fi masterpiece.

But the greatness of this movie is not what has inspired me to write this evening, though I'm sure I could captivate you for hours with tales of suspense and intrigue relating to those 112 minutes of sheer bliss. No, my friends, I'm writing to draw your attention towards something even more profound - gentlemen, Mother Nature is trying to kill us off.

Seriously.

I'm not kidding.

Just yesterday a good friend of mine reported the good news that her sister had gone in to labor and brought another bundle of joy, another miracle, in to this world. Even before asking the question, I seemed to know the answer, but I asked anyway, "So, is it a girl or a boy?" Well, wouldn't you know it, it was a girl. A beautiful baby girl. And the world is a better place for it.

But it made me think about my own family. I'm the sole male heir to carry on the Skinner family name, and between my two sisters, they've had 4 girls and 1 boy. If I extend my family to relatives and their children, the boys are outnumbered nearly 3 - 1. This isn't just some simple family genealogical quirk, my friends, this is very real. It only fuelled my biological paranoia when I read Stupid White Men by Michael Moore and he brought up the same scenario, with the estimated statistic that the world's population is approaching 52% female, and 48% male.

Men, obviously not the most intelligent of the two sexes, have managed to systematically render ourselves obsolete. For eons we had two things women didn't have that made us a necessity: (1) we provided the sperm to keep the species going, and (2) we were able to reach and get whatever they needed off the top shelf. That's about it. Then, then we go and invent in vitro fertilization, and there's even work being done to use DNA (no sperm necessary!) to propagate the species. The other invention that did the male population in was the stepladder. The portable, easy-to-carry aluminum stepladder, to be precise. Who was the bastard that came up with that bright idea? Now what possible excuse can we have for sticking around?

Nature has a way of getting rid of its weakest links, those that no longer serve a useful purpose, the dead weight. That, my brothers, is us.

But hey, we've had one helluva run, haven't we?

Currently listening to: Radiohead - 2 + 2 = 5