In a gathering of book-loving friends the other night, each woman gave a short summary of her general perspective on life. In response to a book she’d read on cosmology—the exploration of the origins of the universe aided now by extremely sophisticated radio-telescopic instruments—one woman quoted an author awestruck in view of the vast universe: “You’re not special. You’re just damn lucky.”

As a former professional greeting card writer, I’m familiar with the word special. It could usefully be applied to any person or any occasion without being very specific (a word clearly related to special). A “special” card recipient could be the brother you’re grateful to live a thousand miles away from, the grandmother who imparted to you all the life skills you ever needed, or the kitty who gets a Christmas card from its doting human roommate.

I looked up the etymology of special in my old Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Its synonyms include individual, particular, unique, and many more. It’s related to the word species, which means particularity and relationship in regard to certain characteristics. Both words derive from Latin and Greek roots having to do with observation or seeing, whose descendant words also include spy and skeptic.

In short, the word special is more concrete than I had thought. It’s something you see. As human beings, we have the capacity to observe, to describe, to be curious, to be discerning and discriminating, to ask questions in matters of wonder and doubt. The human perspective (can you find special in the middle of that word, too?) is situated about halfway between the smallest “stuff” of the universe which we have so far discovered—quarks and all that—and the biggest or farthest away we have seen—stars and galaxies—or even not seen—the mysterious presence of dark matter. Employing the many ways we are equipped to see, human beings are in a sweet spot, according to us.

(Parenthetically, I’ve always thought that the search for “life” on other worlds should always include the qualifier “life as we know it.” Isn’t there the possibility, if not the probability, of life with other features?)

Are we “lucky” to be human? One fundamental principle of Buddhism declares “Life is suffering.” To vastly varying degrees, suffering happens to each and every one of the eight-plus billion human inhabitants of the planet. Everyone suffers. So…who’s lucky? Look around you.

Feeling lucky to be alive comes with specifics: health, family, friends, freedom, prosperity. Name your joy. In suffering, we’re not special. In everything else, we’re mostly lucky, no matter how we ended up with it. The only response that can save the planet is letting go of it—that is, sharing it with everybody else.

It’s Christmas. I profess my personal belief that God shared the entirety of God-ness in the person of Jesus Christ, whose Spirit in the midst of suffering makes us all special indeed.