One of the most important stories in our history is that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were both born on 12 February 1809. And now on this date in 2009, we will celebrate the bicentennial of two lives that made a tremendous difference on the past, present and future of our species. For those of us who have had an opporunity to study the lives and influences of these two indviduals, and to recognize the poignant differences they made in the history of this nation and the world, we can rejoice in the way humankind has moved out of the darkness, away from mysticism, superstition and fear, into a new world and a new future. Two hundred years ago no one could have possibly known how much these lives and legacies would change the world.

Out of very different backgrounds, these two individuals have taught us how to better understand the place of Homo sapiens in the long history of planet Earth and our short history among all living things. Through the challenge to understand the theory of evolution, natural selection and the origins of all life, we know we are not exalted above other life forms, but simply one species with tremendous responsibilities for all other life on earth. At the same time, we know today that the color of our skin, our gender, and our sexual preferences need not divide us. We can be assured that Lincoln would have celebrated with us in the election of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth president of the United States. Skin out is not what makes us significantly different; it is what is within and the behaviors we express towards all life forms that will finally allow us either to persist on earth or to become extinct.

It is also this very same year, on the 24th of November, that we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. It is for this reason that large numbers of professional scientific and social science societies will conduct special seminars, hold group discussions, and present lectures to salute the work of Charles Darwin for bringing a new direction to the study of the life sciences. Most of us recognize we can never return to pre-Darwin interpretations of life on planet Earth. If you have not done so for several years, please pick up a copy of On the Orgin of Species, or just reread chapters on evolution in a good general biology book.

— Jack L. Carter, 15 January 2009