Board Reflections: Change By Darcy Pollock

Listening to a Krista Tippett podcast, the guest, Janine Benyus, stated that Charles Darwin never said “survival of the fittest,” but rather said “survival of the fit,” which means “fit to place, fit to community.” Organisms don’t just move into a place, they co-create a place and then the place creates them and then they create the place. It’s a homecoming, like coming back to fitted-ness as a character trait. The habitat changes – it changes all the time, and so you must go there, and consider, “I’m no longer fit to this place, so I need to evolve, physically, emotionally, and mentally, evolve to become more and more at home here.” Darwin also believed that “the fit” who evolved were those that helped the helpers. Animals who helped the plants, plants (from trees to microbes) that helped the animals back. The interconnectedness of the everchanging ecosystem and each organism asking itself, “How do I need to change to be more at home in this place? What can I do to help the helpers? “

I just saw this as such a fitting (no pun) metaphor for our church ecosystem after the COVID asteroid.

By Darcy Pollock