A Glimpse At Our World

During the trip, I was reading a book called "The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns.  He is the former CEO of Lennox China luxury good retailer and now the President of World Vision.  It's a great book that really makes you think about the world, and faith, and the disparity between the haves and have-nots.  It's eye-opening.

On the way home, I became really absorbed in the book.  I think I was trying to make some sense of what I had experienced.  Before the trip, I had some strange reactions from people about why I was going to Guatemala.  Why didn't I just stay home and do something charitable in my own community?  This book put it into perspective.  As Americans, we tend to think we are the center of the world.  The following statistics from Richard's book clearly show us a different glimpse of our world:

It you took the 6.7 billion people on the planet and represented them in a single "global village" of just 100 people, this is what the village of 100 would look like:

Out of 100 people:

60 would be Asian
14 would be African
12 would be European
8 would be Latin American
5 would be American or Canadian
1 would be from the South Pacific
51 would be male, 49 would be female
82 would be non-white; 18 white
67 would be non-Christian, 33 would be Christian

In summary, we live in a world that is non-American, non-white, and non-Christian.  Wow!  Those numbers shocked me!!

Looking at it from an earnings standpoint is even more shocking!  The average income in America is $38,611 per person or about $105 per day.  However, that represents only 4.5 percent of the world's people.  And more than half the world's population earns less than $2 per day.

The discrepancy between the wealthiest and poorest people on earth is vast.

Much of the book focuses on biblical principles that implore us to think about our "neighbors" not just as the people that live next door to us, but the people with whom we share the planet!  He also shared how we are experiencing "compassion overload" because we see the commercials for the starving children, and we get mail, and letters and we have become numb to the fact that this exists in our world.  We think we can't do anything that will have a significant impact.  But he makes the point that everyone did just a little there would be a ripple effect.  I found this to be extremely thought provoking and wanted to share it!

I know this book opened my mind and the experience of going to Guatemala opened my eyes to see that we have "neighbors" in distant places.  And as much as I'll continue to support local charitable causes through my church and other foundations, I now see that I have a global responsibility too.  We all do, whether we want to believe it or not.

"He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little." 2 Corinthians 8:13-15

With Gratitude,
Sondra