I love statistics because they put things in perspective and show us how small we are. When we discover this, we lose a lot of small-mindedness which is crucial for growth. I didn’t do a lot of research on this because that’s not the point I want to make. So, the statistics listed are approximate, but close enough. The numbers given are worldwide unless stated otherwise.
1. There are 7.125 billion people on the planet Earth.
2. 106 billion people have died throughout human history.
3. There is a rape about every minute.
4. 250 people are born every minute.
5. 105 people die every minute.
6. 1 person is murdered every minute.
7. 1 person commits suicide every 40 seconds.
8. 78,320,000 people suffer from schizophrenia.
9. 254,000,000 people suffer from Bipolar disorder.
10. Suicide rates increase 20 times for people with a mental illness.
11. There are 20 – 30 million sex slaves.
12. 3,287 people (mostly children/70% female) are sold or forced into slavery every day (136 a minute). Human trafficking is mostly sexual, but is also done for labor and organ harvesting.
13. A single sex slave can earn her pimp $250,000/year.
14. Human trafficking earns 32 billion dollars a year in profits.
15. There are 850,000,000 atheists.
16. USA National Debt: 2000 – $5.6 trillion; 2004 – $7.3 trillion; 2008 – $10 trillion; 2010 – $13.5 trillion; 2012 – $16 trillion; 2014 – $17.8 trillion; February of 2016 – almost $19 trillion
17. There are 100 billion galaxies.
18. There are 300 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
19. There are 40 billion Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way galaxy.
20. 100 million of these planets can sustain life (as we know it).
21. There are tens of billions of galaxies (possibly 100 billion) in our Solar System.
22. The human body has 25 feet of intestines.
23. The human brain weighs 3.3 pounds.
24. The human brain has 400 billion brain cells.
25. The oldest person ever recorded lived to be 122 years of age (not counting the bible).
26. The highest IQ recorded was estimated to be between 250 – 300.
It’s endless. My personal opinion is that the afterlife is beyond time and space. We just aren’t created to understand that. Statistics give me freedom and gratefulness for my smallness. Anonymity is beautiful. I am completely content being the size of a grain of sand on a beach. I like how problems I have chosen to magnify are shrunk by my realization of my true size in this universe. It has also shown me how precious time is and that I only get a glimpse of it while I’m here. I have to stay focused and present to absorb all of this. If I don’t, I revert to a survival mode which consists of wasted thoughts that lead nowhere. They just spin and spin and usually cause me unnecessary pain. Pain, however, has turned out to be my friend because I have chosen to make it that way. Everything can be a gift if we unwrap it with the right attitude. Because of my many experiences with pain (usually due to my bad choices), I can relate to most people and I’m not nearly as judgmental as I used to be. Pain helped me figure out that we are here to serve and from what I can tell so far it’s through our creativity. We are creators. Can you imagine a world without music or any of the other arts? Music, like all art, is powerful and creates positively and negatively. Therefore, we must be responsible with our creativity. It all boils down to our thoughts. No one gave any of us a map and I’ve been drawing mine through my writing and I didn’t even realize it until lately. I have been working on my thinking and I now realize this is a lifelong challenge, journey, and blessing. The fact that it’s difficult is what makes it good. The tool that has helped me the most with this is for me to squash any thoughts that circle around me thinking about what others think of me. This type of self-entertainment is dangerous, dishonest, unproductive, and sometimes arrogant. One suggestion I have as a remedy for this is to give something to someone or some organization completely anonymously. It doesn’t have to be much, but is has to be enough to be felt. Example: if you are a person of an average income and $100 still counts, give $100 to a person or charity you feel strongly about helping. And do NOT tell one soul. Not one. Ever. This is what the freedom feels like when you remove the dominion you have so thoughtlessly given others by thinking about what they think about you. And remember, when you hear anyone say, “I don’t care what they think!”…you can be assured they are lying. I have been that person and it’s not who I want to be. Thankfully, it’s an option.