Against All Odds

Carl Sagan’s description of the Pale Blue Dot is a chilling, humbling narration of our existence in the universe. “On Earth lives everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, and every human who ever was,” says Sagan. But the closest known earth-like planet is still 50 light-years away (and we’re not even sure if there’s life on it). Yet, here we are, on our dot, existing.

It’s weird to think about, but it comes up from time after time. So many things that statistically shouldn’t happen, happen. For example, the Red Sox come back to defeat the Yankees down in the series 3–0, some guy wins the lottery, this guy sinks this incredible hole-in-one. The best word in the English language we have for this is luck. A four letter word.

“Failure is an event, not a person.” — Zig Ziglar

Life is full of events. But some of the most beautiful moments in life are birthed from the sheer defiance of the odds. Like the phoenix rising from its ashes, genius is created from life’s constraints. Bravery isn’t the absence of fear, it’s experiencing fear and persisting anyways. The difficult moments of life provide an opportunity to display our true nature. What are we made of? How tough are we really?

Every time I think about Sagan’s “blue dot,” I feel lucky. Life itself exists against all odds. Stats show that we shouldn’t be here, but I’m sitting in my bed writing this. “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives,” says the writer Annie Dillard. Susan Boyle, Paul Potts, life is full of these moments — where seemingly everyone and everything is stacked against you, yet in the end it’s our conviction that prevails. It’s why we love cheering for the underdog. That’s life; a constant reach for something beyond our grasp, and deciding to jump for it anyways.

Maybe it is just dumb luck. There might not be a special reason. But that doesn’t change what’s here. We’re living proof. Persistence in the face of failure.

“Every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam”

Persist. Be. Carpe diem. Seize life. Sing loudly. Walk slowly. Dance joyfully against the odds, because you’ve already won. You’re here. And to me, that’s awesome.