Re: Kevin Kolbeck's Nov. 20 letter, "Man isn't a bird":
Kolbeck strives to refute my example of homosexuality in nature. A Google search of "homosexual behavior in animals" will go to a Wikipedia article complete with 51 references.
Each species has its own way of existing successfully on this planet. What works for a cockatiel or a lion or a kangaroo may or may not work for humans. After all, we humans are still wired to live in small groups hunting game, foraging for fruits and veggies, having three-day group sex during the full moon and then raising our offspring communally after weaning.
How far have we moderns gotten away from our programming? How does our modern behavior contribute to our crime rates, psychological difficulties and continuous unsupported bickering over that-which-is?
Why do salmon die off after mating and laying their eggs?
Why, indeed, do preying mantis females kill off their lovers?
Why do humans persist on killing each other off?
Why do some members of most species partake in homosexual behaviors?
I do not know. I can only observe and accept that this is the way nature -- or your favorite deity, prophet, seer, whatever -- wants it to be. As with a jillion other things, we can appreciate them but so far remain totally ignorant as to why -- or sometimes even what -- they are.
For us humans to remain viable upon our planet, I feel we must learn to accept that which is, to deal with it gently, and to understand it fully before we attempt to change it.
-- Roger G. Pariseau Jr., Oxnard