The Minority Rules

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When I was a child, my mother used to sing a song that I still sing today. I may not remember the lyrics exactly, but it went something like this:

“When you’re worried and you can’t sleep
just count your blessings instead of sheep
and you’ll fall asleep, counting your blessings.”

While I’ve never been one to count sheep, I certainly know the importance of counting my blessings and I don’t wait until bedtime to do so. In these troubled times of economic crisis and all the other turmoil in this world, we sometimes feel overwhelmed with worry. While we read the news of people losing their homes and jobs, banks closing and prices rising, it’s easy to panic. We hear talk of tightening our belts as we prepare for the sting of recession. Admittedly, times are tough, but even through these hard times, we are still extremely blessed. We live a life of luxury we often take for granted. I stumbled upon the following piece and wanted to share it as it emphasizes the point I’m making. Because the author is unknown, I can’t account for the accuracy of the numbers. But then it’s not really about the numbers.

What if…

If we could shrink the earth’s population to 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, 8 Africans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south

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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 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, 1 would be near death, 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education, 1 would own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for 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 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.  If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all…Author Unknown

If you are in the majority of the world population, you wouldn’t be reading these words. If I were in the majority, I wouldn’t be writing them. I don’t know about you, but I feel blessed. Just something to think about.