GAZILLION TO ONE-ERS

it's mindboggling when you think about it
and i guess like me you've probably thought about it before
the impossibly slim chances of existing
the probability of even being born as yourself
just think
thousands of years ago
who knows when?
a couple of people meet
feel attraction
make love
mingle fluids
and conceive a child
what were the chances of those two people meeting
and getting it together?
what was the likelihood of that particular egg
being ready and waiting?
and how about that particular sperm
seeing off its wiggle-tailed competitors?
ah - the odds are infinitesimally small
over subsequent generations
this process is repeated maybe thousands of times
and each time the likelihood of a particular person coming to fruition
gets multiplied by billions
and so it goes...
of course these days you also get bizarre couplings across continents
the children of english fathers and korean mothers
(what a beautiful mix)
and australian fathers and american mothers
etcetera etcetera
so hannah e
our baby to be
and all the rest of us
are gazillion- to-oners
does that not gob-smack you?
i mean
we moan and groan
we grumble about our lot
but the truth is that each one of us is a miracle
now j still ain't had the scan yet
but i fish out the pregnancy q & a book
which has cool drawings of what baby looks like as time progresses
at four weeks the embryo is barely human-looking
gill-like folds for a face
no limbs
and a tail for a spinal chord
but by eight weeks
the fetus has developed into remarkably human form
a head with rudimentary eyes and ears
light downy hair
arms and legs with distinct elbows and knees
hands and feet with digits
the tail has disappeared
though it doesn't have any genitals yet
he or she is about an inch long
and would lie cradled in your hand like a butter bean
nature serves us up this rich bounty
not just humans
but all the beasts, the birds and the fishes
the flowers, the plants and the trees
and what does homo sapiens ('wise man') do with it?
we think we have the right to take the lives of others
if only indirectly via the brutal policies of our governments
or by getting in an aeroplane and jetting off across the globe
which tips the earth that little bit further towards climate chaos
we treat other sentient beings as mere playthings
to be manufactured in our factory farms
to then be incinerated in the case of male battery chicks or dairy calves
or otherwise fattened, slaughtered and consumed
hey, this has turned into a vegan rant...
but how much do we take for granted?
how casually do we rationalise this brutality?
how little regard do we have for the miraculous workings of the cosmos?
how arrogantly do we disrepect nature?
for we do so at our collective peril...