Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Well, Aren't You Special?

If you were to go back ten generations, or 250 years, which is just a blip on the historical time clock, the chance of "you" being born at all is:
1 in 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,00000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000..!!!

That's 6 with one hundred zeros behind it.... (6x10 to the 100th power)....
That's just if you go back a short 250 years.

If you are reading this you've already beaten the odds of being born... which are basically so astronomical that you could simply say.... "zilch"....

But, that's a bit overestimated. These figures simply follow the "father's" contribution to the person you are. They don't take into consideration:


Your mother's contribution....

The men and women who died in war, famine, disease or without offspring... in some generations, 50% of humanity....

men and women who died of natural causes.....

Children who died before reaching reproduction age....

Fetuses and fertilized eggs that died and were naturally aborted....



Remember that particular distant relative of yours who was killed during the Revolutionary War?...Of course you don't. Besides, he DIDN'T get killed. If he HAD been killed, you wouldn't be reading this today.

An average man, age 25 to 30 years old, produces 300 million sperm per day. (Is this the part of the story where you send your children into the other room?).....

An average man, age 30 to 50 years old produces 230 million sperm per day. (Did I mention this was per "day"?)....

Age 50 to 75... 50 million per day. (sorry, old guys... that's life)...Still, 50 MILLION is nothing to sneeze at!)....



Only 1% of all sperm produced have the chance of possibly fertilizing a woman's egg, if they ever arrive at their destination at all...(99% have already dropped out of the race).



Since the average man will have 2 to 3 surviving offspring, (keeping "Octomom" out of the equation).... the fraction of one male sperm (at one given moment in history), resulting in the birth of another human being (that would be "you').. is 1 in ten trillion.



If you consider almost any time in the past and try to calculate the probability of "you" coming into being, even going back just 2 generations, your possibility of existence is so low that it is almost not worth thinking about.



So... why are you thinking about it?... Perhaps because you're reading this blog at a certain date, at a certain time in history, in a particular country, in a particular part of the country, in a particular city, from a particular family.... and you, really, ...given the odds,... shouldn't be.



Now... to get the the point of all of this....



When you wake up every morning, just remember, that you've already beaten astronomical odds just for the opportunity to open your eyes, to take a breath, to live, to pursue a career, to fall in love, to have children... to use your unique opportunity to either be selfish... or self-less. You can run rough-shod over the the amazing grace of God and walk all over other people, ... or you can use the opportunity to serve and really make a difference in someone else's life; Someone who has also beaten the odds of showing up in your life at some point.



So, ... go and hug your wife,... your kids... your husband... your friends... maybe even have a kind word to say to a co-worker.... maybe someone you don't even really like.

They are all special. You're special. Let's try to make the most of what we've been given. If you are reading this, the odds are, .. miraculously... in your (our) favor today...

No comments:

Post a Comment