In less than fifty years the population of the world has more than doubled. In 1969 the world population was 3.61 billion. Today, it’s over 7.5 billion.
It’s weird to think of how little of the world we will actually interact with. Let’s play with some numbers.
On average, humans live to be 78.3 years.
Let’s say that every single day of your life (including when you are an infant and don’t remember anything) you meet three people. Every single day for 78.3 years you meet three new people.
That’s 365.24 x 78.3 x 3 = 85,794.876. We’ll round up.
So with this extremely high estimate, you would meet 85,795 humans in your life.
Now, how does this compare to the 7.5 billion number we had earlier?
7.5 billion / 85,795 = 87,417.6817. We’ll round up again.
So 85,795 goes into 7.5 billion 87,418 times. That means that with this high estimate, in your 78.3 years of life, you would meet just over .00001 of the entire world population.
And that’s on the high side.
The world is a big place. Nowhere have I realized that more than living here in Austin TX. There are so many different cultures and people here. I get so caught up in my own life and thoughts that I forget that there’s a whole world out there. Much of it in poverty.
If you start feeling too self-centered or prideful, run the numbers. You are a tiny speck in the course of this world.
There are things of eternal value. Anything else I am convinced is a waste of time unless it helps to serve the eternal value.
Yes, we are a speck in the world, but we still have value. Each speck can play an important part, especially if we focus on the eternal value, as you say. Hopefully people realize that.