If there is one thing that I have learned from making a living on stage it is this: If you practice things going wrong, when they do go wrong you are more likely to deal with them gracefully. This doesn’t mean that you are going to deal with every catastrophe well, but you have a much chance of surviving.
I use this tact many areas of my life. I spend hours a week pretending I am in all sorts of situation. I pretend I am meeting people I admire in the airport. I pretend I am being confronted about some issue. I pretend I am being interviewed by Oprah about my new book. Sometimes I pretend it is working out for the best. Other times I make it go horribly wrong to see how I will handle it. I know these little psychodramas have served me well.
This morning, while running to the post office, I ended one of these little plays with me screaming and yelling self-righteously. I liked the point I was making, though my form could use some work.
In the rant, I referenced a book I bought back in October. I believe it is the most dangerous (in a good way) book that will never be read. It is filled with information that it hard to unlearn, which forced me to re-look at the world and my actions in it. The book is 50 Facts That Should Change The World by Jessica Williams of the BBC. This week I am going to share 5 of the 50 facts. I want the facts of the book to stand-alone. I will save my commentary about my poor response for Part VI.
Facts from the book: “Every 14 seconds, a young person becomes infected by the HIV virus… At the time of writing, 36 million people are living with HIV or AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit the hardest. More than 20 million people there have died from AIDS, and 12 million children have been orphaned by the disease…[UN] Secretary-General Annan estimates that $7-10 billion is needed each year to address the in the low to middle income countries. Yet the world spends $2 billion every day funding its military efforts.”
Facts for context: Population of the US approximately 295 million; Population of California just short of 36 million; Population of Canada 32.2 million; Population of Iowa, Nevada, new Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wyoming combined approximately 20 million; Population of Ohio 11.4 million; Population of Pennsylvania 12.4 Million
[Info @ 50 Facts That Should Change The World]

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