PERSPECTIVE 5/9/06

Try on this perspective of the world around us!

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:

57 asians,
21 europeans,
14 from the west--
including both
northern and southern hemispheres,
8 Africans.

52 females,
48 males;

70 non-whites,
30 whites;

70 non-christians (not the same 70),
30 christians (not the same 30);

89 [assumed] heterosexuals,
11 [assumed] homosexuals,
[n.b. the bisexuals are
left out of this count];

6 people possess
59% of the entire world's wealth--
all 6 are from the United States;

1 (yes, only 1) has a college education,
70 cannot read,
1 owns a computer.

80 live in substandard housing,
50 suffer from malnutrition;

1 is near death,
1 is near birth.
[hmmm--or is it
more than one
nearing birth?]

When one considers our world
from such a compressed perspective,
the needs for acceptance,
celebrating diversity,
and education
become glaringly apparent.

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 [false] imprisonment,
the agony of
torture, or the pangs of
starvation then
you are ahead of 500 million
people in the world.

If you can [choose to] attend
[or choose to not attend]
a temple,
church or other religious
meeting without
fear of harassment, arrest,
torture, or death..
.you are more free
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 then
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,
then you are
among the top 8% of
the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still
alive, you are very rare,
even in the
United States and Canada.

If you can read this post,
you are more
fortunate than over two
billion people in the
world that cannot read at all.

thanks to jennifer for passing this on. ~sapphoq