[Mb-civic] Worth Another Look

[Ian]

These three items came across my desk this week, and I felt that, although most of you have probably seen them, they were very much worth another look - and perhaps some silent contemplation (possibly followed by some constructive action?....).

Peace.

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1.  If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, there would be:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere
8 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
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire village's wealth, and all 6 would be from the U.S.
80 would be living 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 one) would have a college education
1 (yes, only one) would own a computer


2.  The following is something to ponder:

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 or other faith 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 over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 % of the people in the world.

If you have money in the bank and 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 blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.


3.  Four facts that may be hard to wrap your mind around:

-The three richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 million people in the world's poorest countries.

-1,000,000,000 (1 billion) people in the world lack access to safe drinking water.

-30,500 children die each day from hunger and preventable diseases.

-9,000 people die each day from HIV/AIDS; the majority are children.


Not a pretty picture.  And not exactly uplifting.  But, unfortunately, some truths rarely are.

Peace.
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