Tika and her "cousin" the basenji.

This is Jake (or what Jake looks like); he is a Basenji and the "love" of Handy Man's Sister Sharon and her hubby, Ron. Tika has never met "Jakey" but I'm quite sure the two dogs would get along famously. What do they have in common? They are both "red dogs" and they are special to us. They both love cheese. They both wag their tails. They are both dogs; they are canines; they are related; they are cousins in the natural world. So what is my genealogy point here?

In our genealogy pursuits, we will find cousins........distant or near cousins......... who are people like us but are vastly different in looks, size and personality from us. So are we all really cousins? I read once where a senior medieval research specialist in the Family History Library said that any one of us is really no further removed than 50th cousins from any other person on the planet. Think about that! 50th cousins to anybody. And you know how different all the peoples of the world seem to be. 

Am I related to you? Probably. Can we prove it? Maybe.  Is Tika related to Jake? Probably. Can we prove it? Nope. As all dogs pretty much accept each other, shouldn't we pretty much accept each other, seeing as how we are cousins???