If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following.In a World of 100 humans there would be:
- 80 living on less than $10 per day
- 57 Asians
- 21 Europeans
- 14 from the Western Hemisphere
- 8 Africans
- 25 with no access to electricity
- 52 females
- 70 non-whites
- 30 Christians
- 11 homosexuals
- 6 people that would possess 59% of the wealth and all 6 would be American.
- 80 living in substandard housing
- 70 unable to read
- 50 suffering from malnutrition
- 1 with a college education
- 1 with a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for both acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.
The following is also something to ponder... If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... you are luckier 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 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 you can read this message, you are more fortunate than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
In our privileged position, even if we lived on only $5000 dollars a year (what most of us would consider impossible) we would still be among the wealthiest 15% of all humans.
Feeling grateful for the simple, basic things in life can help us live more simply. It can also alert us to the the fact that we must become more aware of how most humans on our planet are living. They can't afford to live like we can. Come to think of it, neither can we.Adapted from kanji.org
Woah what a great article! I just returned to the USA from a 10 day stay in Shanghai, China. The poverty over there is not the worst in the world but it was def. an eye opener. For such a large city to still have unsafe drinking water and unsanitary waste systems was just mind blowing. Most people dont know how lucky they have it to be living in America... or anywhere of that matter that has clean drinking water! Thanks for the article!
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