Mark Twain liked to say there were three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Let’s look at three well-cited statistics…
- 27 million slaves
- 145 million orphans
- 1.1 billion without clean drinking water
These statistics are paradoxically important and meaningless. Important because there is a staggering breadth, depth, and inter-connectivity between these issues.
Meaningless because we do not solve problems, or change lives, by the millions and billions.
Eradicating polio happened one inoculation at a time. It was, however, sped along by organized and well funded campaigns to wipe out the disease for good.
It can be done. It happens one person at a time. And when thousands work together in concert–they will heal and help millions.