Friday, April 06, 2012

What lucky really is


"Every living thing is, from the cosmic perspective, incredibly lucky simply to be alive. Most, 90 percent and more, of all the organisms that have ever lived have died without viable offspring, but not a single one of your ancestors, going back to the dawn of life on Earth, suffered that normal misfortune. You spring from an unbroken line of winners going back millions of generations, and those winners were, in every generation, the luckiest of the lucky, one out of a thousand or even a million. So however unlucky you may be on some occasion today, your presence on the planet testifies to the role luck has played in your past." - Daniel C. Dennett - from Freedom Evolves

That quote gives me goosebumps. It's so terrifyingly inspirational - completely freeing and at the same time so full of responsibility and accountability. You want to live up to the opportunity you've been given. A little thought for a Friday.

BTW - the photo is a teacup piggie. I have seen this photo all over the internet repeatedly the last few weeks, so I have no idea where it came from originally or who to give credit to. But it's so adorable that I just couldn't help myself.

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