Today's bomb attacks on London made me think of two things: "How much more can we take?" and "How much more are we going to take?". And then I remembered making a discovery a few years ago, a simplification of a set of statitics which we all think we know, but statistics that still eventually remain in the abstract. Well I've decided to point you to this albeit classic simplification of a subject which we still ponder about, world's statistics simple enough for us to understand. Make sure however that you wait long enough for the movie to download to enable you to press play.
"If we could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same proportions we have today, it would be something like this:
"Work with passion
Love without needing to be loved
Appreciate what you have
And do your best for a better world."
Easier said than done. Where do we bottle these feelings of hatred and revenge when we get attacked in this viscous way? We are strongly divided in our opinion on this, and that may never change. Mine is not the place to change it, but to simply express my own emotional struggle with the subject. We cannot have an appeasement policy on the fight against terror akin to Neville Chamberlain, who flew to Hitler twice, finally comming back triuphantly waiving the Munich Pact only months prior to the onslaught of the Second World War. Do we turn towards the leader of the Free World and follow his path of 'tracking down those evil doers'. I think if he grasped the command of the English language a little better, one might actually believe that he is capable of reading up on some history, which might remove that vacant look off his face and make his promises more credible. So far it has been possible for September 11 to happen, and one capital city to follow every year until now, when eventually London got hit six times within the space of two weeks. So "...do your best for a better world?" How?
I did a very interesting test on a site called Political Compass. You'll see my results published on the front page along with others who have taken it. The results were really surprising, you should take it and see whether you are still where you thought you were in the political arena. I actually always thought my political beliefs rested somewhere to the right of Gengis Khan, but it seems I am officially to be labeled as a Liberal, right next to my friend Chamberlain, how depressing is that. How non-commital, how wet, I mean what on earth does that mean? Neither one nor the other, it doesn't sound like me at all, I hear my friends say, although I wonder... If you look at my post dated 7th July, 'We mourn with the Citizens of London' you would think definitely Right Wing. I even had my first comment to it posted by a blogger from an Anti Terrorist site saying "Well done". O.K that was scary enough for me to erase the comment, and tone it down. Then you look at my post dated 'The Art of Giving' and you think: "Ah...liberal!" Gotcha! Ah but wait, there is another post about a dear departed friend Nan Kempner belonging to the highest level of the social echelant, 'You can never be too Rich or too Thin', and you think: "I am totally confused now" .
Well, now you know how I feel. I have always been a great believer that if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. But on the subject of terrorism, present or future, the stand needs to be relentlessly firm. Zero toleance, and of course totally RIGHT WING.......
hi alex
victor told me that you put together this blog all by yourself.i cannot believe it!!!
normally you always read about the hungry poor billions somewhere in the world but this 100people example puts it nicely into
perspective.
all the best
alexander
Posted by: alexander | Friday, July 29, 2005 at 09:52 AM