As I grieved the loss of human life these past few weeks, I was once again reminded of how precious even one human life is, whether here in the United States or elsewhere in the world.

Consider the following facts: Each human being has a 100 million light receptors in his/her eyes, designed to detect subtle changes in color, texture, and form. We can experience a smile on another's face or the majesty of Mount Rainier. Our ears have 24 thousand fibers that vibrate perfectly to sound waves, making them more intricate than any telecommunications device. Our vocal chords allow us to speak like no other creature on earth. We can inspire others with our words or injure them with the same.

We each have more than 500 muscles, 200 bones, and 7 miles of nerve fibers, all choreographed to move us in perfect synchronicity. Our lungs support us in even the most polluted environments, filtering and recycling air through more than 600 million pockets of intricate, filmy flesh. Each of our hearts beats about 36 million times a year, pumping more than 600 thousand gallons of blood through more than 60 thousand miles of blood vessels, delivering nutrients, immunities and filtering out wastes. Every second 2 million of our blood cells are replaced by 2 million more cells in a constant cycle of death and resurrection.

Each human brain contains 13 billion nerve cells. Within these cells, there are more than 1 thousand billion, billion protein molecules which record and process information from every single event or experience we have. No greater computer has ever been invented. One human being houses enough atomic energy to destroy any large world city or to reconstruct it!

All humans have had this same basic design for thousands of years, yet each of us is a unique specimen with our own set of genes. We are perhaps the greatest miracle ever created. To be truly appreciative of this gift, means taking better care of ourselves and others.

Much of the facts for this column comes from Og Mandino's book, The Greatest Miracle in the World.