Saturday, January 06, 2007

The Miniature Earth

Watch this:


If the above is too small, you can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C-u6kdHuXE

For the lazy souls who doesn't want to click on anything, I will write out the video.
The video is titled "The Miniature Earth".

If we could turn the population of earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same proportions we have today, it would be something like this...

  • 61 Asians, 12 Europeans, 8 North Americans, 5 South Americans (and the Caribbean), 13 Africans, 1 Oceania
  • 50 women, 50 men
  • 47 lives in urban area
  • 9 are disabled
  • 33 are Christan, 18 are Muslims, 14 are Hindus, 16 are non-religous, 6 are Buddhists, 13 practice other religions
  • 43 live without basic sanitation
  • 18 live without an improved water source
  • 6 PEOPLE own 59% of the entire wealth of the community
  • 13 are hungry or malnourished
  • 14 can't read
  • only 7 are educated at a secondary level
  • only 12 have a computer
  • only 3 have an inernet connection
  • 1 adult aged 15-49 have HIV/AIDS
  • the village spend more than US$1.2 trillion on military expenditures
  • and only US$100 billion on development aid
  • if you keep your food in a refrigerator, your clothes in a closet, if you have a bed to sleep in, and a roof over your head, you are richer than 75% of the entire world population
  • if you have a bank account, you are one of the 30 wealthiest people in the world
  • 18 struggle to live on US$1.00 a day or less
  • 53 struggle to live on US$2.00 per day or less

    Appreciate what you have.
    And do your best for a better world.


    Okay, after reading so much, you might have abit of "huh" in your head, so just go watch the video!

    Do you actually realise that you are so lucky?

    All the long, government keep saying that Singapore's economy is growing stronger. Ya true. We totally forget that there are actually poor people living in Singapore too. Until a man jumps onto the MRT track for a suicide. Newspaper report make us realise that there are actually poor people still.

    I always write things that people already know in my blog, it's common sense but I still want to write it. WE OFTEN TAKE THINGS AROUND US FOR GRANTED.

    A friend of mine threw a freshly baked bread away saying it's not delicious. We don't appreciate clean food. How many are actually suffering from hunger and malnutrition everyday.

    Children asking for more pocket money in school from parents. Does a primary 5 student really need $5 pocket money daily? People are struggling to survive with only US$1.00 or less daily.

    Ya lah, I'm not trying to compare against the poor people. I can complain against rich people too. Rich people can spend $50+ on a meal without giving it a second thought, throw away things that are just partially spoil and travel in taxi for almost every trip.

    It's not about comparing now. It's about time to appreciate what we have before we begin to regret.

    The earth is not mini, it's huge. Too huge that we can only see what we want to see. The dark side is not easily visible. Do you notice that there you are lucky, not as poor as alot other people?
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