[TheForge] The World Village

[John Chobrda]

    This e-mail was sent to me a while ago, and I apologize for passing 
it on if it offends, but it gave me something to think about and I would 
like to share the information with you. We all have a tendency to carp 
and gripe about things, the country, the politicians, the illegal 
aliens, taxes, etc. But when you take a real look at how the rest of the 
world lives, we are dam lucky.

>The World Village
>> >
>> > 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:
>> > ~
>> > There would be:
>> > 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 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.
>>>


My $.02
John C.