When something horrible happens to one person, it is a story. When it happens to a vast number of people, it is a statistic. We are much better at caring about things we relate to. This is a problem if we are only surrounded by people like ourselves. Malcolm Gladwell looked at how little things can make a big difference in 'The Tipping Point'. He talks about how in groups of 150, people can know each other. They can also know how the others know each other. They may not even understand what they know.
When things are small enough, magic happens. With your closest friends, this intuitive support can be the glue that keeps you together. When we start thinking about the 7.4 billion people on the planet, it can be completely overwhelming. But what if we thought of it in terms of 150 people? 75 men. 75 women. 28 Chinese people. 26 Indian people. 20 people living on less than $1.90 a day. I don't know one person living on less than $1.90 a day. I bet if I invested in some personal affirmative action and got to know 20, I would have a much better understanding of the world we live in. Rather than the world I live in.
When things are small enough, magic happens. With your closest friends, this intuitive support can be the glue that keeps you together. When we start thinking about the 7.4 billion people on the planet, it can be completely overwhelming. But what if we thought of it in terms of 150 people? 75 men. 75 women. 28 Chinese people. 26 Indian people. 20 people living on less than $1.90 a day. I don't know one person living on less than $1.90 a day. I bet if I invested in some personal affirmative action and got to know 20, I would have a much better understanding of the world we live in. Rather than the world I live in.
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