perspective, perspective

Posted On March 14, 2007

I have been so busy lately, it’s hard to keep my head on straight… My planner is quickly becoming a dear friend to me 🙂

I made a very creative and delicious dinner last night, the picture of which is my 365 for yesterday (will post tonight hopefully).

It’s very warm and gray and humid today… it feels a little spooky.

In class yesterday I was shown the following and I thought it was really interesting… I found a more updated version that even included some more factoids.
“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: Fifty-seven 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 nonwhite, 30 would be white; 70 would be non-Christian, 30 would be Christian; 89 would be heterosexual, 11 would be homosexual. Six people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth . . . and all 6 would be from the United States. Eighty would live in substandard housing; 70 would be unable to read; 50 would suffer from malnutrition. One would be near death; One would be near birth. One (yes, only one) would have a college education. (One would own a computer (a year ago no one had a computer). How could the wealthy 6 live in peace with their neighbors? Surely, they would be driven to arm themselves against the other 94 . . . perhaps even to spend, as Americans do, about twice as much per person on military defense as the total income of two thirds of the villagers. When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.” by Philip M. Harter, MD, FACEOP, Stanford University School of Medicine.

We can definitely make a difference in this world. We can. I think our reluctance comes partially from our fear of the unknown, our inability to see it all accurately, and our defeatist attitude towards the small things that we can do. If we picture ourselves as one in that village of 100, what small things could we do to really change the scene there? Changing the world doesn’t mean saving everyone, it means we recognize our own small and significant place on this planet and take some action. It really can work.

I don’t know why it changed the font on me there.