FOOD FOR THOUGHT ABOUT OUR WORLD

If Our World Were a Village….

A few years ago (2006 to be exact) I came across an interesting short article titled; “If Our World Were A Village Of 100”.  The statistics were attributed to the late Dartmouth College Professor and weekly newspaper columnist Donella H. Meadows

The author stated that if the world’s 6+ billion person population were translated proportionally into a village of 100 people, this would be the breakdown of the village’s citizens:

• 49 are female and 51 male

• 18 are white and 82 are not

• 33 are Christian, 19 Islam, 13 Hindu, 6 Buddhists, 29 other or none

• 24 have no electricity

• 33 have an unsafe water supply

• 67 cannot read or write

• 1 has a college degree

• 50 are malnourished

• 1 is dying of starvation and another of aids

• 60 are Asian, 12 are European, 8 Latin American, 14 African, and finally 5 are North American

• The 5 North Americans produce and consume roughly 25% of the village’s total goods and service

I would never presume to tell anyone what conclusions they should reach after reading this…that is clearly up to each of you. I will share my personal conclusions as a 70 year old, white male who grew up in an extremely poor family in Indiana. My father never made it to high school and my mother finally dropped out after the 10^th grade. Both were hard working people who simply got caught up in the Great Depression and never had a chance to gain the advantages of any formal education.

In spite of this rough start my folks managed to progress from severe poverty to a reasonable level of financial security over the course of their lives through their own hard work. After a very slow personal start, and through the encouragement and loving tenacity of my wife, I managed to work my way through college over a nine year period and graduated with a degree in Management from Indiana University at the age of 26. From then on I ended up having a fairly productive career working for Eli Lilly and Company and ended up holding over 20 different  roles in a thirty year career (mostly in management) in several different business units in that company. I even managed to go back to school mid-career to earn an MS in Industrial Administration from Purdue...their version of an MBA.

As I interpret these “village” statistics from my personal perspective and life experiences I come to the following conclusions:

1. I doubt if my parents or my wife and I could ever have reached the levels of success that we eventually achieved in any other country than ours. I believe that most of my generation were truly blessed to live here whether by birth or immigration. It's not too clear that future generations will enjoy those same opportunities.

2. As a white, male, American citizen of this world…what right would I ever have to be biased toward any person or group who is “different” from me…especially when I truly represent such a small minority myself?

3. Why would I ever be resentful of others wanting to come to the greatest country in the world to seek the opportunity for a better life when, except for true American Indian descendants, all of us are either immigrants or the progeny of immigrants who came here for the same reason? However, having said that, we do have a right to expect that our federal government will set reasonable immigration rules and not simply allow folks to migrate hear illegally.

4. We often hear that Americans consume a huge proportion of the world’s goods and services. Not often discussed is that we also produce overall amounts that are equal to this consumption.

I invite you to read these statistics and reach your own personal conclusions. If you don’t agree with mine that’s fine…that is just another reason to value our great country…we are endowed with the freedom to hold and share our own individual feelings and beliefs. What are your personal conclusions?

Mike Tower

Hendersonville, NC


Citizens Against Politics As usual
http://capau.org

Lee's Political Opinion
http:leespoliticalopinion.blogspot.com