Codes

Consider this: All humans are 99.9% similar to one another in the part of the human genome that codes for proteins. In equivalent areas of the genome, we are 98.8% genetically similar to chimpanzees, 75% similar to chickens, and even 60% similar to banana trees. 

Somehow, I find these well-known facts of research oddly reassuring. The universe knows what to do. I'll take the afternoon off, walk my dog, make a sandwich for lunch, with a banana. There's no actual existential drama, except by my own anxious invention.