The following item by an anonymous author, with numbers which are only approximate, has been widely quoted for many years, and puts some things in perspective:
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 would be Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would
be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
ONE would be near death; ONE would be near birth
ONE would have a college education
ONE would own a computer.
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, you recognize that you are indeed among the fortunate......
And, therefore . . .
If you woke up this morning
with more health than illness,
you are more blessed than the
million who won't survive the week.
If you have never experienced
the danger of battle,
the loneliness of imprisonment,
the agony of torture or
the pangs of starvation,
you are ahead of 20 million people
around the world.
If you attend a church meeting
without fear of harassment,
arrest, torture, or death,
you are more blessed than almost
three billion people in the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator,
clothes on your back, a roof over
your head and a place to sleep,
you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet, and spare change
in a dish someplace, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If your parents are still married and alive,
you are very rare,
especially in the United States.
Aren't you glad life ISN'T fair? Because it's all skewed in our favor! I'm so thankful for my life--
3 comments:
Wow this is really eye opening. I have a lot to be grateful for!! I've got a lot going for me that I take for granted.
Wow, Sandy. That was pretty powerful. Thanks for posting that.
I've read this before and it always makes me think. Actually, I have been thinking a lot about this lately because I just finished reading the book: The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer. I am starting a new job at the hospital and I am thinking about joining the 50% league. Their website is here: http://www.boldergiving.org/about_bg/50percent.php
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