Vocabulary Words to Learn

• shrink (sh-rink) verb “to decrease in size”

• precisely (pre-cise-ly) adverb “exactly”
  

• substandard (sub-stan-dard) noun “falling short of what is considered normal”

• malnutrition (mal-nu-tri-tion) noun “not having enough food to be healthy”

• compressed (com-pres-sed) verb “to make smaller”
  

• perspective (per-spec-tive) “how something is seen through an individual’s eyes”
  

• glaringly (glar-ing-ly) adjective “something that is painfully obvious from seeing it”
  

• ponder (pon-der) verb “to consider something heavily in your mind”

• pangs (pangs) noun “a brief spasm of pain”

• harassment (ha-rass-ment) “to create an unpleasant or hostile situation for someone”

If we could shrink the earth’s population to village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratio remaining the same, it would look something like the following:

There would be:

• 57 Asians

• 21 Europeans

• 14 from the western part of the world, 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 many others. 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 over your head 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 are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

USA education level required to read this post: 9th grade

Your Love Story

Questions for Group and Pair Discussion

• Are you willing to work at your job or profession like you don’t need the money because you have that kind of passion for life and all that you do?
  

• Does anything you have read in this story surprise you? Which ones and why?
  

• Do you think you have very much to be thankful for and if so, what?

• Should most people live their life like it’s heaven on earth now instead of waiting for heaven someday?