Dateline Detroit - October 24, 2011

From 7 billion to 1

Sometime on Halloween this year, October 31st, 2011, the 7 billionth person in the world will be born!  This news comes to us courtesy of the UN Population Fund and you can find out more about this from their website: http://7billionactions.org/
Scroll down on this website and you will find the population counter and you can watch as it moves up to 7 billion. If you scroll down farther on this webpage you will find stories from people around the world about how they are working to help us to live and work together as a people and scrolling farther down the page you will find on the left hand side a wonderful song called “United” written for this moment in time when the human population on our planet will reach 7 billion.
With this large a population, there are both challenges and opportunities, but there is always the possibility to live in a more united way than we currently do. As I see it, living as one, living united is all part of what Jesus told us when he said “love your neighbor as yourself”.
It is hard to get my head around a number as large as 7 billion people, and with all of us, it is not easy to live as one, but I do believe it is possible, especially when we remember that what we have in common is our humanity.
What will you do on Halloween to mark the 7 billionth human in our family? Can you do all you can to live as one with your neighbors near and far away? We all have choices about how we live, what we do each day and our choices impact 7 billion others…think about this the next time you decide to leave your water running while you brush your teeth.
Check out some more interesting facts and information by watching the videos from National Geographic at this website: http://7billionactions.org/resource.php
Scroll down to watch the videos… both are pretty interesting.
Jesus said “love your neighbor as yourself. 7 billion neighbors is a big number. Check out the websites, listen to the music, read the stories, watch the videos and let me know what you think.
 
Melanie

By: Rev. Melanie Carey On 10/24/2011
Topics: Detroit Renaissance District

Comments

1. john hart wrote on 10/24/2011 12:09:31 PM
the link does not find the website. Better luck with simply 7billionactions.org.
2. Henry D. Williams Jr. wrote on 10/24/2011 1:31:39 PM
Did find link just below msg with Error Page Not Found.
3. Melanie wrote on 10/28/2011 4:15:02 PM
Henry and John, The link will work if you type in the word resources with an s on the end. www.7billionactions.org/resources.php Sorry for the error in the above blog.