I am here.
So are you.
And with that, I know you know. I love my dogs. I have lots of friends who love their dogs. And many more friends who love their cats.
Our animal “children” are as unique as humans. There are no two alike. But this is true not only of our pets but of all animals. From the squirrel just outside the window on the bird feeder to the great blue whale in the ocean feeding on those six tons of krill every day. All unique. Each one of those krill is unique too.
I’m trying to say that my little Lou is the one and only. No other dog has ever been like him before. No one ever will after. Same, same for Fluffy, and Tabby, and Bruno. All of them.
It is amazing to me, this bit of uniqueness. Everything comes in its own size and shape.
My little Lou is small. He only weighs about eight pounds on a good day with a belly full of breakfast.
As a sidebar, this made me wonder. Who in the dog world is the smallest? And who is the largest?
The seven smallest are:
Russian Toy — 11 inches tall — 6.5 pounds
Maltese — 9 inches tall — 7 pounds
Chihuahua — 9 inches tall — 6 pounds
Pomeranian — 11 inches — 3 to 7 pounds
Shih Tzu — 11 inches — 13 pounds
Yorkshire Terrier — 8 inches — 7 pounds
Japanese Chin — 11 inches — 4 to 7 pounds
And the seven largest per weight:
Anatolian Shepherd — 150 pounds
Great Dane — 200 pounds
Great Pyrenees — 160 pounds
Irish Wolfhound — 155 pounds
Leonberger — 170 pounds
Newfoundland — 150 pounds
Saint Bernard — 180 pounds
And we see, in brief, the differences just in dogs.
But this happens in all the different sorts of beasts.
For instance. There are 350,000 species of beetles. That’s an awful lot of relatives. All different, mind you. Every single beetle within those 350,000 different species is singular and unique. Creepy, crawly.
Unlike beetles, we humans have no fellow species in existence. We’re all alone. Together.
Humans’ closest living relatives, biologically speaking, are chimpanzees, but while humans are classified as Homo sapiens, which puts us in the genus Homo, chimpanzees are in the genus Pan. So. See?
Some other animals stand alone in their genus, as we humans stand alone. They are:
Aardvarks
Aye Ayes (a nocturnal primate)
Koalas
Honey Badgers
And more. Probably.
But as we pan out and look at the bigger picture?
Well. There are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence.
And here you are.
Yes. Here you are. Among all of that, and in the midst of the other 8 billion humans scratching about on the surface of the planet —
Here you are.
Never before. And never again. You were given a fantastic combination of the mind, the body, and the soul that no one else will ever have.
Your thoughts and talents. Your skills. Your abilities and dreams. All these things mix together in a miraculous combination that makes you, you.
You bring your own light to this world. A light that moves outward and touches others. The world is different because of you. It is better because you are here, touching this place.
Yes. You are here.
And here you are.
And I am thankful for your goodness.
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“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
― Albert Einstein
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“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”
― C.S. Lewis
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“Miracles are like pimples, because once you start looking for them you find more than you ever dreamed you’d see.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Lump of Coal
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The truth about the species. Together. And apart.
