It's difficult to imagine, but at one time this entire planet was just a bubbling mass of molten rock, slowly cooling and being bombarded by countless asteroids and whatnots.
Over numerous eons, objects rich in water continuously smacked into this planet, providing the materials for our oceans. Then, approximately 3.8 billion years ago, something quite wonderful happened. Life.
How these most ancient microbial entities came to be is certainly out of my grasp of knowledge, but it certainly was a fantastic coincidence for which we should all be grateful.
For the next millions upon millions upon millions of years, the process of evolution through natural selection slowly transformed single-celled organisms into multi-celled ones, plants into animals, sea creatures into air breathers, etc.
Eventually, out the ordered chaos rose a creature of particular interest — a relatively bald and clever ape with decent posture and a knack for adventure. I speak of course about human beings.
For thousands of years this species travelled, hunted, evolved its culture and eventually mastered many elements of nature. Agriculture, language, tools and art — at some point all the efforts of this species resulted in an interacting mass of intelligent, contemplative and organized individuals: civilization.
As time passed, the architecture became more permanent, spoken language allowed for the written word, which in turn allowed for a concept of history that would intimately link those from the past with countless generations into the future.
Empires grew, only to be conquered. Religions evolved, only to disappear under the weight of more persuasive ideologies. Ages of ignorance made way for science and reason, the printing press, industrialization and HBO.
Through all this history and prehistory, only the elite of every species earned the honour of spreading his, her or its seed into future generations. Only those with the skill, cunning, natural ability and luck to survive to adulthood and attract a mate (assuming they're sexual organisms) could reproduce.
And so, after billions of years, countless failed species and evolutionary changes, this entire living planet reached a most spectacular moment that (for at least one creature) was the whole point of this long and difficult process.
I speak, of course, about the birth of me.
Perhaps there is no more wonderful a concept than to realize the only reason one exists is because he or she is the end product of successful reproduction reaching as far back all the primordial soup.
One is often told a big ego is a bad quality in a respectable person, but it's hard not to feel a bit privileged to be alive, knowing all the pain, struggle and lust for survival that went into ensuring one would eventually come to exist.
Think about it. Among the most basic urges of all living creatures is that to reproduce. It is a driving force that keeps life gurgling in every crevice and corner of Starship Earth.
I am alive because regardless of what wars, famines, natural disasters, political/religious persecutions, random accidents, suicides, executions, animal attacks or any other unmentioned reasons for death happened on this planet, every direct ancestor I've ever had, without exception, managed to survive long enough to have a child who then lived long enough to reproduce.
It seems somehow to cheat previous generations of their rightful recognition when we have the audacity to attribute our current existence to some sort of miracle. The truth is we owe our breathing bodies and thinking minds to a lot of hard work by those preceding us.
What a wonderful and rare opportunity it is to be alive. We should all recognize that fact and try to enjoy this gift from our ancestors.
After all, this entire reality is just for us — at least for now.
Carter Haydu can be reached at 691-1265.
