posted on May 12, 2001 07:09:41 AM
Makes you think.........
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 just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around.
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.
posted on May 12, 2001 08:27:15 AMMint: May I add something to your "Makes you think" thread?
At a nursing home in Miami, Florida, a group of Senior Citizens were sitting around talking about their ailments: "My arms are so weak I can hardly lift this cup of coffee, " said one. "Yes, I know. My cataracts are so bad I can't even see my coffee," replied another. Still another said, I couldn't even punch out the Chad at election time. My hands were too weak. "I can't turn my head because of the arthritis in my neck," said a fourth. To which several nodded weakly in agreement. "My blood pressure pills make me dizzy,"... another went on. "I guess that's the price we pay for getting old," winced an old man as he slowly shook his head. Then there was a short moment of silence. "Well, it's not that bad," said one woman cheerfully. "Thank God we can all still drive."
posted on May 12, 2001 09:27:35 AM70 would be unable to read
I don't know about your other figures, but 70 out of 100 being unable to read would mean the world literacy rate has plummeted in the last 5 years. I believe that number is way off.
"I don't know about your other figures, but 70 out of 100 being unable to read would mean the world literacy rate has plummeted in the last 5 years. I believe that number is way off."
Sorry, these are not my figures. The author is unknown, as it says at the bottom of the text.
posted on May 12, 2001 01:27:44 PMGive It a Second Thought
An American Indian tells about a brave who found an eagle's egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All its life, the changeling eagle, thinking it was a prairie chicken, did what the prairie chickens did. It scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. It clucked and cackled. And it flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that's how prairie chickens were supposed to fly.
Years passed. And the changeling eagle grew very old. One day, it saw a magnificent bird far above in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
"What a beautiful bird!" said the changeling eagle to its neighbor. "What is it?"
"That's an eagle - the chief of the birds," the neighbor clucked. "But don't give it a second thought. You could never be like him."
So the changeling eagle never gave it a second thought and it died thinking it was a prairie chicken.
posted on May 12, 2001 02:36:05 PM
~ The Man in the Glass ~
When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day, Just go to the mirror and look at yourself And see what that man has to say
For it isn't your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life Is the one staring back from the glass
You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you're a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum If you can't look him straight in the eye.
He's the fellow to please - never mind all the rest, For he's with you clear to the end.
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test If the man in the glass is your friend.
You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years And get pats on the back as you pass. But your final reward will be heartache and tears If you've cheated the man in the glass.
Author Unknown
P.S. This is a copy and paste original. All persons who like to point out errors in syntax, etc. Please get a real life.
