At that time, I was too young and too closed against the world to be moved by the message inside.
Now, I'm getting older, I'm getting closer to the world.
I think it's time to open the book again to understand the message.
『世界がもし100人の村だったら』
僕が、確か、中学生であった時に広まったこの話。もともとは一通のe-mailから、様々な情報が足され、集約されながら、チェーンメールのように世界中に広がっていったという。
先日古本屋によったときにこの本が目に入り、思わず手を伸ばして購入した。
その当時にはあまり響かなかったこのエッセー。それは僕が幼すぎたのと、世界というものが見えていなかったから。
それから約10年が経過した。今もう一度読んでみて、僕は色々と発見することや考えることが多かった。
大人と世界が近づいてきたすべての人に、あらためてもう一度読んで欲しい。そして色々と考えて欲しい。そう思って、ちょっと長いけど、引用することにした。
本文中の数字は事実に基づくフィクションであり、その「事実」も2002年のものである。世界は変わっている。だから数字も多少変わっているかもしれないが、このエッセーの持つメッセージは変わらない。それをわかってもらえれば。
日本語もタイプしようと思ったのだけれど、予想以上に長くて。
ちょっとだけ内容が違うのだけれど、僕と同じように古本屋でこの本を手に取りいろいろと考えた方がブログに書いていた。
ここにリンクを貼らせて頂きます。
"If the world were a village of 100 people"
To all my friends and loved ones-
Love from me
Useful Perspective
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 like something like the
following:
52 would be female,
48 would be male.
30 would be children,
70 would be adults,
among those,
7 would be aged.
90 would be heterosexual,
10 would be gay or lesbian.
70 would be non-white,
30 would be white.
61 would be Asians,
13 Africans,
13 from North and South America,
12 Europeans,
and the remaining one from the South Pacific.
33 would be Christians,
19 believers in Islam,
13 would be Hindus, and
6 would follow Buddhist teaching.
5 would believe that
there are spirits in the trees and rocks
and in all of nature.
24 would believe in other religions,
or would believe in no religion.
17 would speak Chinese,
9 English,
8 Hindi and Urdu,
6 Spanish,
6 Russian, and
4 would speak Arabic.
That would account for half of the village.
The other half would speak Bengal, Portuguese,
Indonesian, Japanase, German, French,
or some other languages.
In such a village, with so many sorts of folks,
it would be very important to learn to understand different from yourself,
and to accept others as they are.
But consider this.
Of the 100 people in this village,
20 are undernourished,
1 is dying or starvation, while
15 are overweight.
Of the wealth in this village,
6 people own 59%,
-all of them from the United States-
74 people own 39%, and
20 people share the remaining 2%.
Of the energy of this village,
20 people consume 80%, and
80 people share the remaining 20%.
75 people have some supply of food and a place to
shelter them from the wind and the rain, but
25 do not. 17 have no clean, safe water to drink.
If you have money in the bank,
money in your wallet and
spare change somewhere around the house,
you are among the richest 8.
If you have a car,
you are the among the richest 7.
Among the villagers
1(yes, only 1) has a college education.
2 have computers.
14 cannot read.
If you can speak and act
according to your faith and your conscience
without harassment, imprisonment,
torture or death,
then you are more fortunate than
48, who can not.
If you do not live in fear or death
by bombardment, armed attack,
landmines,
or of rape or kidnapping by
armed groups,
then you are more fortunate than
20, who do.
In one year,
1 person in the village will die,
but, in the same year,
2 babies will be born,
so that at the year's end,
the number of villagers
will be 101.
If you can read this e-mail,
that means you are thrice-blessed.
First, because someone thought of you,
and set you this message.
Second, because you are able to read.
Third, and most important,
because you are alive.
Someone once said:
What you send out
Comes back again.
So sing
from the bottom of your heart,
dance
with your body waving free,
and live,
putting your soul into it.
And when you love,
love as though you have never been wounded,
even if you have.
And love the face that
you, and
others, live here,
in this village.
Perhaps,
if enough of us learn to love our village
it may yet be possible to save it from the
violence that is
tearing it
apart.
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