I heard a comment the other day that I instantly disagreed with – “Everyone looks different.” First, I thought of identical twins. They are the same. Next, I thought of someone I had just seen on the television program Wheel of Fortune. There was a tall male contestant who looked like a young Abraham Lincoln. The more I thought about it, I realized the contestant reminded me of Abraham Lincoln but didn’t exactly look like him. The more I considered, “everyone looks different,” the more I began to agree with it.
If the statement is true, why? It has to go back to genetics, but that doesn’t answer the question. Why would genetics produce human beings who look different? The rules of genetics tell us that there must be an advantage to that characteristic for a characteristic to continue. So why would genetics produce people who look different? What makes humans other than, say, lions who look like lions and giraffes who look like giraffes? Perhaps, there is a clue as to why in prehistoric art. Figurines, often called Venus figurines, might give us a hint. They appeared in Europe during the last Ice Age. It was a difficult era for humans. Even finding food was difficult, but the figurines represented obese women. Obese women must’ve been scarce in that time of cold and glaciers. They might express the wishes of people at that time for ample food and the continuation of themselves.
I think the last phrase – the continuation of themselves – is the clue we are looking for to explain “everyone looks different.” We aren’t like the animals I described earlier who look alike. We all have preferences: some like brown eyes or green eyes or blue eyes. That same idea can apply to all physical characteristics. Genetics has provided us enough differences so that we can find a mate. It comes down to simply the survival of the species. You might prefer the statement, “we fall in love with someone whose characteristics turn us on.”
