The world we live in.

The heart of Tao

We spend a considerable amount of our time complaining about what is wrong with things and often how difficult life can be. I have had a rather hectic time, most of it my own making, trying to do far too many things at the same time. So I took time during my meditation this morning to consider all the things I complained about in the last five days. I considered, where possible, just how serious this complaining was measured alongside the problems of others.

Something interesting came to mind when we look at our lives it in global terms, it becomes almost meaningless. I thought I would scale things down just a little.

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 this.

There would be:

57 Asians.

21 Europeans.

14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south.

8 would be 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.

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 (yes, only 1) would own a computer.

When we consider the world from this perspective, it looks like a very different place.

So instead of complaining let me consider:

I have food in the refrigerator, clothes on my back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, I am richer than 75% of this world.

I woke up this morning with more health than illness, I am more blessed than the million who will not survive this week and better than those people suffering from landslides and floods.

I have money in my wallet, and spare change in a coffee jar next to my keyboard making me among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

I have never experienced the danger of battle, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, I am therefore ahead of 500 million people in the world.

I can still put a smile on my face and are truly thankful, I am blessed because the majority will find it difficult to smile in their situation.

I can write this blog, over two billion people in the world cannot read it.

So as I look out the window and see the birds and the street in which I live and realise my only complaint is I might walk in a wind and get a bit wet. My biggest task is seeing the heart specialist, having probably walked seven miles. I am indeed in a much better place than most.

I hope you have a wonderful day.