Did you know all people with blue eyes can trace their genetic lineage to a common ancestor 6000-10,000 years ago? That it was one person with a genetic mutation who gave rise to all blue-eyed people? I didn't either, until I heard it on television one day. Being generally skeptical of, well, everything, I did some internet searching and discovered it was true. A scientific study performed in 2008 determined through evaluation of mitochondrial DNA that this was so.
Now, I was delighted by this. It almost made me want to burst into a verse of "We Are Family" when I saw a blue-eyed person. Or at least run up and inform them of our close connection on the family tree. I suddenly felt closer to all those with blue-eyes - my blue-eyed kin! Perhaps this was compounded by living with a brown-eyed spouse and a child with eyes that are either brown, hazel, or green depending on lighting and mood. I was decidedly a lonely island of blue eyes in my house.
It took a day or so and then the fallacy of this obsession occurred to me. You see, if you believe in evolution (and friends, if you do NOT believe in evolution I'd rather you not tell me - it's one of the few things I'm a bit rabid about and telling me can only result in me sending you copies of Darwin's book) we are all related. Perhaps some of us are a bit further removed on the family tree, but all of us, from whatever country or culture or race we come, are family.
I can't help it, though. Now whenever I meet someone with blue eyes I wonder if they know we are just a little bit more related than the rest of the human species. We share something unique. We are a club within a club. We're going to need a secret handshake...
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