What about "Statistics"?

Dr Robert Muller is one of the great men of our time. He has worked with the United Nations for thirty-three years for peace in the world, and has held other positions as well. Surely he deserves the award he recently received: the Albert Schweitzer International Prize for his work on world peace. Here are some of the things Dr. Muller says (they are called statistics).

Every hour, 6,000 of our brothers and sister die, and every hour 15,000 more are born on the earth. What they need is what you and I are lucky enough to have --an education. Sad to say, many of these kids will never reach school age. One of every ten will die before the age of one year, and another four before the age of five. Besides that, one-tenth of all the world's children who reach school have some kind of handicap: something in their body or mind does not work correctly.

Did you know that there are no schools at all in some parts of the world? Even now, how many people on earth do you suppose cannot read or write? 814 million!

After telling us all this, Dr. Muller gives four broad subjects which he thinks all students of our day must study and learn (That means you!) Are you thinking, "reading, 'riting and 'rithmatic? " Of course. But more than that.

1. Studying planet Earth as our home, and its place in the universe.
2. Studying the human family, the world-family.
3. Studying our place in the unrolling of time.
4. The miracle of our individual human life.

In the first subject we learn how stars are born and die; the geography of Planet Earth; a picture of our complicated climate. We learn that every invention can be used for good or bad, our planes for travel or for dropping bombs, atoms for research or for mass destruction. Studying this, he says, we can become expert managers and caretakers of the earth.

Now you know the word "statistics?" It means how things add up. We have learned how many people we are, where everyone lives, how long we live, how many are male and how many female, how healthy we are in different places, and all that. Today we are 176 nations, 5,000 languages and many religions. Now we must learn how to "build bridges" between persons and communities, instead of blowing each other up! We have to learn the value of what each culture has to offer.

Our place in time. Today every great nation is planning for at least twenty years ahead. When your parents were your age, that would have been something to laugh at; not any more. We look back now and see that our planet is more than four-and-a-half billion years old. Yes, says, Robert Muller, we have to know our position on the road of time, and be able to plan ahead more intelligently.

The miracle of life. What does it mean to be an "individual?" What is consciousness? We are miracles and must feel like miracles, hold our heads high and be proud to be a human being. We must learn how to know and use our bodies, our minds, our moral sense and our spirit: our relation to God.

P. S. If you are not getting all these things in your school, why not complain?