Thursday afternoon I took a photo of a 5-year-old eating cake. Normally I steer clear of these cliché photos, but this little guy was eating Darwin cake. 
Feb. 12 is the birthday of two great men, Abe Lincoln and Charles Darwin. The KU Natural History museum held a birthday celebration in honor of Chuck D's 200th birthday. The little guy in the photo, Rae, and his mother came from Wichita to participate in the festivities. I talked briefly to the mother because I felt a little odd taking random photos of him without his parents knowing.
She said the day wouldn't mean much to him now but that it was important for him to remember Darwin's name.
"He is such an important part of Rae's past and will be important in his future science classes," she said. "I wanted him to be a part of it."
My mother is a copy editor/reporter/columnist at The Marysville Advocate in northeast Kansas. I told her I shot the event at the museum and she thought about writing a column about Darwin's birthday. She called me later to tell me National Public Radio aired a story about Darwin's birthday and that they mentioned the event at the Natural History Museum.
I wasn't close to a radio so I looked up the story online. The tease of the written story by Diane Roberts caught my eye.
Evolution has been a touchy debate, particularly in Kansas. This article by Roberts asks a simple question: "Does accepting our place in the animal kingdom make us any less miraculous?"
I think it's important to realize, even in Kansas, that you don't have to take a side in the great evolution debate. You don't have to brainwash your children to believe in the right or the left side of the argument. But you can let them eat cake.
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