Thursday, 16 August 2012

Something to think about.

I recently discovered a website that gave all the statistics of the earth population if shrunk down to just 100 people. If the earth were a small town or village with precisely 100 citizens, it would apparently look a bit like this..
  • 57 Asians
  • 21 Europeans
  • 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
  • 8 Africans
  • 52 would be female
  • 48 would be male
  • 70 would be nonwhite
  • 30 would be white
  • 70 would be non-Christian
  • 30 would be Christian
  • 89 would be heterosexual
  • 11 would be homosexual
  • 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the U.S.A.
  • 80 would live in substandard housing
  • 70 would be unable to read
  • 50 would suffer from malnutrition
  • 1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
  • 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
  • 1 would own a computer

These statistics, although they should have been unsurprising, amazed me. To imagine the earth and its citizens in such a small and compressed perspective really highlighted to me our need for greater acceptance of our differences.The website also reads that
  • If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this 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 500 million people in the world.
  • If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
  • If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead 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 alive and still married ... you are very rare, even in the United States and Canada.
And finally if you are reading this blog, you are more blessed that over two billion people in the world that cannot read. These statistics really puts it into perspective especially when I complain about the internet being too slow or the provided food where I live being tasteless. Australia is now ranked 3rd in Legatum Institute's Prosperity Index meaning that the prosperity (both wealth and well-being) of our nation is position 3rd in the world and yet we still complain about our quality of life... these statistic provided me a little insight and gave me something to really think about.

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