8 426 3.6 How much does one man need?
The net worth of the 8 richest men in the world is estimated to be $426 billion.
That sum is more that the sum total of the net worth of 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of the population on the Earth.
taken from article "World's Richest Have as Much Wealth as Bottom Half, Oxfam Says" GERRY MULLING Jan 16, 2017
I have been moved by many things in these last few weeks. By reading about current events and plowing through Crime and Punishment. Making turns in knee deep powder and seeing the appreciation of gifts given during the holidays. I’ve been moved by conversations that we as faculty have had about teaching and learning, and I’ve been moved by my oldest son’s awakening desire to live in a world he can be proud of, a world that his generation will have to shape with their actions and words.
There is something truly important about so much money being concentrated in the hands of so few. I cannot comment on the character of any of these men and to be fair, it isn’t even their fault that they are so rich… I am concerned for us, the collective us, the world-wide us. I have witnessed poverty in a developing nation firsthand, and it is real and it is devastating. Some of us know poverty here in the Northeast Kingdom and its impact is no different. The corner of the world that we live in is the poorest in the state of Vermont, a state that ranks well into the top half of the US rankings of standard of living. Some of our neighbors in this beautiful part of the state are on par with the poorest in our country. We do not need to look to India or Africa to see the effects of the disparity of wealth on communities.
I don’t have any answers for you this morning. I am concerned that we as a nation and a world seem to be moving quickly toward repeating history. Quickly toward a me centered, isolationist approach to the world. Somehow we feel an obligation to only look after ourselves, and too often this means protecting and supporting those most like ourselves. The ironic thing for me is that those 8 men that are on top of the heap of money have made it from all of humanity, not just one country's populace. From a technology sector that has revolutionized the world but perhaps has only made a couple individuals even richer. What I most worry about is we are creating wealth for individuals on the backs of not just Americans but the population of the world, and our country seems to think that now is the time to worry less about our collective role in the world and more about protecting our own backyard. Can’t we do both? Shouldn't we do both?
Our headmaster has raised our awareness of the importance of fact in discerning between fake and real news. Never in my lifetime has there been a better reason to study history, never has there been a time to better understand the flawed nature of human beings crippled by their own bias, never has it been more important for us to challenge one another’s thoughts and actions in an attempt to know one another more deeply.
"Intelligence plus character -- that is the goal of true education." Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. King was correct, we need, now more than ever character and intelligence. We need to invest fully in our own education, for our communities, countries and world depend upon it.