We Are All One

Approximately 4.5 billion years ago, life emerged on Earth. Single cells begat single cells, evolution creating a variety of bacteria and other microbial organisms.

Over time, multicellular organisms showed up, and to make a very long story short, eventually (rather recently), mankind as we know it today emerged.

It humbles me to think about this chain of events. There’s no “if this is true…” here either; evolution is as much fact as it is theory.

What the history of life shows us, though, is that, in a sense, we are all related. And by “we,” I do not mean “all of humanity”; rather, I mean “all life on Earth.”

It’s easier to think of this relationship just in those beings which are closest to us genetically: family, other humans, and then perhaps other primates such as gorillas.

Our family tree, however, includes far more than primates. We can keep following the branches up, and in doing so we’ll find we are related — however genetically different we may be — to fish, fungi, fowl, and flora.

All life, no matter what shape it takes, is family. I like to think of a metaphysical life spark which we all share, a spark which has been passed onto all offspring, starting with that primordial microbe which started it all.

This commonality of life should make us take stock: our lives are no more “special” from an objective standpoint than the lives of any other organisms, yet we are the only organisms which knowingly and willfully break free of the natural order by way of industry and economics.

How are we impacting the life around us? Are we allowing life to thrive so that in the future, new and exciting organisms which we can’t even imagine may evolve and fascinate whatever form “humanity” is taking then?

My first child is due in five months… Another link in a chain of life which is truly ancient. Life is amazing. Persistent.

Amazing.

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