The symbolic seven billionth baby was born last Monday, and her name is Danica May Camacho from the Philippines. Just to clarify, the Untied Nations chose last Monday as the day the seven billionth citizen of the Earth would be born, based on estimates and current worldwide population growth. Danica was one of the first children born on Monday, so that officially makes her the milestone count. She was met with a celebration, along with worthwhile gifts such as start-up capital for a small business, and a college scholarship which should come in very handy when the time comes. I mean, how much will collage cost sixteen to seventeen years from now! I just hope these scholarships also make good on their promise, unlike some companies we know.
But take a minute to imagine that number. Seven billion. The world realized its first billion in population last 1804. Two hundred years later, that number has increased seven-fold, with population explosions in the last century alone! The question is, does this world have enough resources to sustain seven billion people? The discrepancy between those who have and those who don’t has also widened exponentially. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon put it plainly, “Plenty of food but one billion people go hungry. Lavish lifestyles for a few, but poverty for too many others.” A reality that nobody can seem to correct, even with the best of intentions.
Daniels had a better formulaic. According to the UN Population Fund country representative, it is not about counting people but rather making people count. Well said. I like to think of ants. An ant colony definitely wants more workers, because they work, and not flake out in the sun! Every worker has a job to do for the betterment of the colony, and is aptly rewarded for its efforts. I’ve never heard of a lazy ant, or if there ever was one, I’m sure the soldier ants dispatched if it pronto! If every person on the Earth were productive, and not just waiting for dole-outs or help from others, imagine what this world would be right now. This is not to demean the poor in life, since their situation is a result of a vicious cycle that cannot seem to be broken. Poverty leads to being uneducated, and being uneducated only leads to so many undesirable situations. It is therefore the obligation of every nation to ensure that its population is cared for in every way. Foremost of that, is education.
There so many areas still uninhabited by man, due to one reason or another. But the world does have the space, the real estate, maybe even the resources if we only knew how to use them wisely. Just imagine if we think like ants, working in every possible way for the betterment of the world we live in. Seven billion may still be a small number. But at the rate we are going, at the rate the discrepancy of the rich and poor is widening and the number of those living in abject poverty and illiteracy increases exponentially, we may be in trouble indeed. The first one hundred years were marked by worldwide plagues that decimated the world population. Some say it was nature’s way of correcting itself. Which is why there was a slow growth in that century. I hope nothing of that sort happens today. Or do we need one?