Yes, I’m thankful that life is an accidental byproduct of the universe. The odds that any of us would ever come into existence is beyond calculations small.

There is one unwritten law of the universe, however, that repeatedly trips us up — probability balance.

Prabability balance says that creation must always at some point in time be offset by destruction — Stars are born and stars die. As part of the universe humans connot escape this law. Like stars we are born and we die as individuals and eventually we will die altogether as a particular life form. (Those thousands of nuclear tipped missiles, sitting and waiting their turn, are there for a purpose.)

Meanwhile, every aspect of our short lives is filled with offsets — love is offset by hate, peace is offset by war, joy is offset by sorrow. What nature gives, nature eventually takes away.