153 Million
What would you do with 153 million?
Of course, 153 million dollars is easy. You could buy a Starbucks coffee every day for a year…for every person in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Or you could buy a couple of loaded Gulfstream jets.
But what is 153 million, really?
153 million jelly beans? They’d fill a pretty big swimming pool. Or you could eat them. Of course, you’d gain 180 thousand pounds. Which is the weight of 938 people. So maybe you couldn’t eat them.
153 million songs? You’d be listening for a thousand years.
153 million words? You’d have to read 1,500 books.
153 million hedgehogs? Well, that’s just a lot of hedgehogs.
153 million children? Shoulder to shoulder, they’d stretch all the way around the Earth. And then some.
Now imagine that every one of those children is an orphan.
What would you do with that? Leave a comment…
*Photo Credit: Milind Alavares (Creative Commons)
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About Christine
I am a writer, a project manager, and a corporate refugee with a heart for orphans around the world. My two daughters were adopted from Ukraine at ages 12 and 14. I post about writing, chasing dreams, and making a difference in the world, and sometimes I share fun snippets of fiction in-progress.
that is a lot of hedgehogs Christine!
I’m curious if you’ve ever read the story of George Muller and his orphanages? Excellent and inspiring life George leaded.
http://chrisvonada.com/2011/02/19/bad-boy-done-good/
153 million is a number so big it is hard to grasp. Way too large knowing there are that many orphans out there.
Chris, I’ve heard of Muller, but haven’t researched him very fully…I’ll have to put that biography on the list of books for this year!
I agree 153 million orphans is difficult to really get your head around. The series over the next few weeks is going to *try* to unpack it…I’ve been spending pretty much all my free time playing with Excel and learning about statistics!
Staggering number. I wish the problem we were faced with was 153 million hedgehogs. That would be a much simpler problem to deal with.
Christine,
It’s very difficult to try to digest those figures. When you put it in those terms, it’s very upsetting to know the numbers are so high. As Mark said, if we were really concerned with hedgehogs instead, it would be much better.
And the jelly beans? Well, I could do some damage. Maybe just a foot-bath sized pool, but I could do it!
Scott, I agree, the numbers are very upsetting. My recent mission is figuring out how to move from “upset” to “taking action.” Hoping to bring some like-minded people along with me!