I Am a Human

 

I am a human, made of stardust,

A child of evolution,

Energy to atoms to molecules to DNA to cells,

Many genes shared with bacteria;

I can see that we have a common ancestor.

Many organ systems shared with other mammals.

I can see that we are cousins.

My own genome is unique,

One sperm of billions from my father,

One egg of millions from my mother.

None exactly like me before,

There will be none after I am gone.

 

I am a child of every culture,

A child of religion and science,

A child of imagination and reason,

A student of how things might be

And a student of how things are.

 

Does it matter that I am here on this planet now,

A unique being in this galaxy, in the whole cosmos,

That took almost fourteen billion years to make,

A being that can see, hear, feel, think, understand, love….

A being that can now ask such a question?

 

Well, that is up to me.