For Thought and Reflection

atma · June 1, 2001

If Earth's population as shrunk into a village of just 100 people- with all the human ratios existing in the world still remaining - what would this tiny, diverse village llok like? That's exactly what Phillip M. Harter, a medical doctor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, attempted to figure out. This is what he found:

57 would be Asian

21 would be European

14 would be from the Western Hemisphere

8 would be African

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

6 people would posses 59% of the entire world's wealth, and all 6 would be from the United States

80 would be live in substandarn housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition

1 would be near death

1 would be pregnant

1 would have a college education

1 would own a computer.

The following is an anonymous interpretation:

Think of it this way. If you live in a good home, have plenty to eat and can read, you are a member of a very select group. And if you have a good house, food, can read and have a computer, you are among the very elite.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness....you are more fortunate 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 harrasment, arrest, torture, or death...you are fortunate, more than 3 billion people in the world can't.

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 8% of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married.....you are very rare, even in USA.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful....you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder....you are blessed because you can offer healing touch.

If you can read this message, you just received a doble blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than 2 billion people in the world that cannot read at all!

Have a good day, count your blessings, and try to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

dasanudas · June 1, 2001

Thank God for small mercies and keep chanting for inestimateable unseen mercies

Because on top of all that you may have been given, there is every chance that those who read this here are among a fraction of 1% that Lord Krsna has personally blessed with the chance to sing His glories.

"Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth." Bhag-Gita Txt3.Ch7.

And further more "Among many thousands of brahmanas, a yajnika brahmana is best. Among thousands of yajnika brahmanas, one who fully knows Vedanta is best. Among millions of knowers of Vedanta, one who is a devotee of Visnu is best. And among thousands of devotees of Visnu, one who is an unalloyed Vaisnava is best." Bhakti-Sandarbha 177

Nice info. Atma Prabhu, have to keep that for those times when in the 'woe is me syndrome.'

animesh · June 1, 2001

Thank God for small mercies and keep chanting for inestimateable unseen mercies

Because on top of all that you may have been given, there is every chance that those who read this here are among a fraction of 1% that Lord Krsna has personally blessed with the chance to sing His glories.

Very true. Has it ever occured to you how lucky you are to be alive? Study shows that more than 90% of people on Earth died before progeny. But not a single of your ancestors falls in this category.