better perspective...

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 nonwhite
30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian (not the same 70)
30 would be Christian (not the same 30)

89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth
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 the world from such a compressed perspective, the need for both acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.

The following are provided as additional thoughts to ponder....
If you woke 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 temple, church, or other religious 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 married... you are very rare, even in the United States and Canada.

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 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.

- courtesy of Paul Dzing