The Similarity of Differences

The Similarity of Differences
by James M M Baldwin

There is a difference between the swimmer and the dancer,
the football team and the chess team,
the hockey team and the math team,
the softball player and the spelling bee champ.

There’s a difference between the teacher and the student,
the coach and the athlete,
the mentor and the protégé,
the priest and the parishioner.

There’s a difference between the Buddhist and the Scientologist,
the Taoist and the Wiccan ,
the Hindu and the Jew,
the Christian and the Muslim.

There is a difference between the boy and the girl,
the man and the woman,
the mother and the father,
the husband and the wife.

However, within these differences, there is similarity.

There is a similarity between the Down syndrome child and the Rhodes Scholar,
the graduate and the dropout,
the acclaimed and the unknown,
the distinguished and the despised.

There’s a similarity between the prisoner and the free man,
the doctor and the patient,
the beggar and business man,
the lawyer and the criminal.

There’s a similarity between the author and the illiterate,
the artist and the scientist,
the musician and the mathematician,
the poet and the politician.

There is a similarity between the dependent and the self-sufficient,
the child and the parent,
the young and the old,
the unborn and the dying.

We are all the same.
We are human.
We have life.
We live.

So let us live.
Let us live for life itself,

Whether in happiness or misery, poverty or prosperity,
Whether in health or sickness, youth or infirmed,
Whether in joy or sorrow, loved or lonely.

Let us live for life itself,
For we are all the same.
We are human.
We are one.



Original reduction print
We Are Harmony
by Summer Skye Baldwin

Odd Odds

In a recent article concerning the 1 to 175 million odds of winning a Powerball jackpot, they also listed the odds of other somewhat unusual occurrences. I realize that Powerball odds are easily mathematically verifiable, but some of the listed probabilities seemed a bit… off; such as: Your odds of dying in an asteroid apocalypse of 1 in 12,500 are better than being murdered, with odds of 1 in 18,000. REALLY?! I mean, you can adjust your odds of being murdered by adjusting where you live and what you do, but that asteroid thing seems a bit… askew. Where did they get the statistics for an asteroid apocalypse anyway? But aside from that, what caught my attention was the stated chance of becoming a New York Times Bestselling Author at 220 to 1. They do add the caveat, “If you’re an Author.” But again: Really?! From a separate article I noticed that those odds are about the same as dating a millionaire. Huh? Surely you jest. But I am married so for me, the odds against that are infinite. However, I do know quite a few authors, but I don’t know any from the best sellers list. I’d really like to hear the facts behind that projected likelihood. If anyone can enlighten me; please, fill me in. I must be missing something. I suppose if your last name is Rowling and your first initials are J. and K. the probabilities are pretty much 1 to 1 of making the list. But then again, maybe all you need is initials for your first name, like C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien. But alas, they are both dead, so I’d say their chances of writing another bestseller are fairly low. Perhaps they died in the asteroid Apocalypse.
Jim

Articles used in this post;
Powerball Odds from the Huffington Post
and
What Are the Odds? by: Natalie Josef at divinecaroline.com