From Jan, unicorn(a)sun-spot.com
No Accidents (from the "Sunday Afternoon Rocking" series)
Nothing could begin until they all arrived. By this time, it appeared that
all were at least in the same country, but nothing could begin until they
all converged upon the same place within it. In 1801, most all were in
North Carolina/Virginia area, many near one another, but no marriage
records indicating they yet knew one another. Some were in
Pennsylvania. Some were already in Tennessee territory and some were in
route from Maryland. Some would be in the right spot within a few short
years, and some would not arrive for forty more years. Most would come for
the same reason: to own a spot of land they could call their own, to coax a
living from the soil. Some would come for other reasons, to find a "safe"
place out of the impending storm of white settler and Native American
clashes, or to bring their trade and talents to a rapidly expanding
frontier. In 1801, there would have been more than thirty of them in
various stages of their lives. All of them were my direct ancestors, but
nothing could begin until they all arrived. Until these ancestors of
Irish, Scotch, English, French and Native American roots could converge on
a small area known as "Land Between the Rivers" there was no chance for my
birth or the birth of my descendants. And obviously, they all arrived.
I have often wondered on that. In that time period the chances of survival
were not high anyway. The world would have been fraught with health
dangers, regardless of the intensified dangers of travel through a
wilderness and homesteading a frontier. If only one of those ancestors had
been in the wrong place at the wrong time, met with the wrong untimely
disaster, a family line would never have been, and hundreds of descendants
never have drawn breath. It is a wonder to me to think of it, to even
realize the miracle of being. It is a wonder to me to realize that this
"happen chance" has been, not just since 1801, but since the dawn of
civilization and the creation of humanity.
A very long time ago, when my son was having a very hard time of things, I
did a little homework and a little research, and I wrote him this little
piece to remind him in yet another way how very special he was. I was
astounded myself at what I learned. It became a lesson for myself, as well
as a lesson for him.
This is how special you are...
If you had been born in this country 200 years ago, you would have had less
than a 20% chance of reaching the age of ten. If you had been born in most
of the world today, the same is still true. But this is not the most
wondrous part of who you are. Listen...
For only a few hours of one week of one month in a certain year was it even
possible that your conception could even occur. There was one in 450
million chances that the sperm that created you did so. Had it not you
would have been another child. When you were conceived you received 23
chromosomes from your mother and 23 from your father, but all of those were
a toss up from millions. If one chromosome had been different, you would be
a different child. Theoretically, any one of 64 trillion children could
have been born...yet it was YOU. Add to that the fact that even after you
received the chromosomes that led to your creation, they have a quirky
little habit of "crossing over", changing pieces and parts of each other
and this made for eight million MORE possibilities of you being someone
different from who you are. If one chromosome had switched one part with
another...you would not exist...
And yet you do. You were born in this country in this time to this family.
You were conceived within the only few hours that were possible for you to
exist. You beat the odds of one in 450 million to receive a particular
sperm, you beat the odds of one in 64 trillion to receive just the right
mix of chromosomes, and you beat the odds of one in eight million that no
switching was done afterward except that which produced YOU.
Have you any doubt that you are meant to be, meant to exist? Have you any
doubt that there is some very special purpose for you on this earth?
Just a thought,
jan
Copyright ©2000janPhilpot; Copyright ©1995janPhilpot
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Thanks, jan)
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