We like to believe that physical phenomena, animals, people and

societies obey predictable rules, but such rules, even when carefully
ascertained, have their limits. Every rule has its exceptions.
ASSIGNMENT: What is one particular exception to a rule?
When their cerebral cortex began to develop from that of an ordinary
animal, humans were endowed with consciousness and self-awareness.
Ever since its nervous system evolved, as far back as 1.44 million years
ago, the human species has shown a solid desire to categorize, catalogue
and ultimately understand with the aid of a specific set of rules. Recent
findings have brought to surface old fossils used by a Homo habilis
female to documentate her menstrual cycle. Even old cave paintings
indicate our insistence on order, therefore it cannot be surprising that
anything forgoing an universally accepted rule would baffle us.
The wisest of us tend to agree to the fact that societal and ideological
rules are generally flawed. Although most developed civilizations have
lived under a strict religious system, the set of moral laws that expresses
implacable truths gravitates towards exceptions itself. The Ten
Commandments, a long disputed example for this idea, strongly opposes
murder in any circumstances through the categoric phrase Thou shalt
not kill. On the other hand, philosophers have dabbled upon the validity
of this rule in critical situations, such as that when a person remains in a
coma for a relatively irrecoverable period of time. Or if we were to take
into consideration the immense pain a pet endures at the end of its life,
euthanasia would unquestionably prove to be the more merciful, more
moral recourse. Such exceptions appear in about every socially
disputable theme, from love to state administration, from politics to
economy, and thus we have mostly succumbed to the idea that man-
made laws often fail.
The next reasonable assurance we have is in natural laws. Although
gravity, thermodynamics, optics and many other laws have pacified our
brains, there are still many fields which still frustrate our eagerness for
order. Biology, also known as the science of exceptions, falls into this
category. The field which tries to distribute living organisms after
stringent rules allows exceptions because of the rich diversity that has
resulted from mutations, genetic recombinations and evolution. We know
since childhood, for instance, that among the defining characteristics of
any animal classified as mammal is giving birth to live young. The
platypus, in spite of being a mammal, happens to lay eggs. It is known
with certitude that roots are geotropic, being affected by gravity and thus
growing towards the soil. However, the roots of some tropical mangrove
plants, like the Red Mangrove from Venezuela, grow away from gravity,
evading the geotropism rule unanimosly accepted by biologists. Anything
from the color of blood, genetic characteristics or behavior can vary and
eviscerate the essence of an accepted definiton. As hard as humankind
may try, it is impossible to categorize such a heterogenous mass of data
and activity, let alone understand the processes behind them.
This type of chaos can sometimes confuse our species, or even deter its
perception of the world we live in. In spite of our lack of control, we
usually learn to accept and even appreciate exceptions. After all, life on
Earth can become quite predictable when dictated by exacting rules and
regulations. Our affinity for exception is, ultimately, what induces hope
and change for the better.