Why don’t we settle?

My 1 year old is at the stage that always amazes me. Or rather he is at ONE of the stages that always amazes me.

The little guy is an expert crawler. He can either crawl on his hands and knees, or his hands and feet if he is on something rough like cement or broken glass. He is very quick. If I drop a chocolate chip in the kitchen, he hears it from the other room and there is a ‘tot tot tot tot’ as he comes roaring into the room to retrieve his prize.

He has also just started walking. His walking is horrible. He takes two steps, then goes down in a blaze of glory. He lands on his rear, his face, his side, or his gut. He just isn’t that good at it.

So the part that amazes me is that he keeps trying. He already has a perfectly acceptable mode of transportation. He is good at it. Why try to learn something new?

I don’t have the answer, but it doesn’t stop after walking. The human race is always trying to find new ‘ways’, even when the old ways seem to work just fine. We weren’t happy with walking, we had to capture animals and ride them. Then we had to build machines for the animals to haul. Then we got tired of shoveling animal droppings, so we got rid of the animals and just went with the machines. Then we looked up at the birds and though, “That’s not fair”, and the next thing you know we’re up in the sky and beyond.

I guess according to the theory of evolution, you can’t ever sit on your haunches and decide that ‘this’ is good enough. You’ve got to be moving forward, ever forward, or you’re left behind.

So, sore bottoms notwithstanding, I’m sure within a week’s time, my little guy will have given up the knees, and moved to the feet. One step forward on the road to a better way.