“Extinction is the rule,” Carl Sagan once wrote. “Survival is the exception.” Most of the time, that seems like a fair enough deal on a cosmic-handshake level perhaps even a bit too kind when you consider the patchwork of banality, cruelty and tragedy that so frequently endures in this tiny, lonely corner of the universe. Yet there are times when something comes along that is enlivening and beautiful and soul-affirming enough to justify exalt, even survival.