To Live Like One-Fifth Of The People In The World…

Concern for the needs of others should always be of special interest to all Sunday schools and Sunday school members. The following is designed to help individuals identify with the plight of one-fifth of the world’s population. It was presented by S. Joan Hershey, General Board Chair, as an introduction to the Third World Meal at the Church of the Brethren General Board Meeting. The article is taken from "Brethren News" and reprinted by permission.

To live like at least one billion of the people in the world, we would have to:

1. Take away all of our clothing except one suit or dress per family member.

2. Take away all furniture except a kitchen table and one chair.

3. Empty the pantry except for a small amount of flour, sugar, salt, and a little bag of rice.

4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the water and electricity in the house.

5. Take away the house and move to a tool shed.

6. Remove all other houses and set up a shantytown.

7. Cancel all magazine and newspaper subscriptions (which would be no big loss because you would not be able to read or write).

8. Leave one small radio for the town.

9. Replace all clinics, hospitals, and doctors with a midwife.

10. Throw away all bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies and leave each family with $5.00 cash.

11. Give each family three tenant acres to cultivate; one-third of cash from the crop goes to the landlord and one-third to the local moneychanger.

12. Take twenty-five to thirty years off your life expectancy.

(This article appeared in the "Winter, 1990-1991" issue of "The Herald.")