June 2001                                                              The Megaphone                                                               Page 6

    If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all of the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:
   There would be . . .

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the western hemisphere both north and south.
8 Africans
~~~~~~~~
52 would be female
48 would be male
~~~~~~~~
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
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70 would be non-Christians
30 would be Christians
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 89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
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6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth
all six would be from the United States.
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80 would live in sub-standard 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.

"Mama Duck" -- Class of '65

Vicki (Hull) Wardwell
Alexandria, IN

  A dear friend recently gave the following to me . . . she thought it reminded her of me.  I read it . . . and thought of you . . . my Den Family.

The Invitation

   It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.  I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
   It doesn't interest me to know how old you are.  I want to know if you will risk looking a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
   It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.  I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.
   I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.
   It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself: if you can bear the accusations of betrayal and not betray your own soul, if you can be faithless and therefore be trustworthy.
  I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from it's presence.
   I want to know if you can live with failure yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the moon, "Yes!"
   It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
   It doesn't interest me to know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
   It doesn't interest me to know where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside, when all else falls away.
   I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder