Do you ever think of the “what-ifs” that led to your existence? The accidents and coincidences that resulted in your birth? Or how close you came to not existing if X, Y, or Z hadn’t happened?

Both my maternal and paternal ancestors came to America — Southern New Jersey to be precise — on the same ship, the Good Ship Kent, from England in 1677. Was that piece of history responsible for my existence? Perhaps just a little. More responsible probably was the fact that two teenagers at Moorestown High School in South Jersey — both descendants of the travelers on the Kent — had a passion for horses. Also responsible was the fact that first child of this couple — who had married — was tragically hit by a car and killed. I might have been born to the couple at some point anyway, but because they wanted to fill the empty space created my sister’s death, I was born almost a year to the day after she died.

The Danish Poet is a charming animated story of the chain of events that led to the narrator’s birth? The video asks: Is our existence just coincidence? Do little things matter?

I thoroughly enjoyed this funny, poignant, thought-provoking story. What chain of events led to your existence?