People often use the phrase "one in a million" to mean that someone or something is quite unique and special. When something is "one in a million", we value it, we keep it safe, it's rare. What about one in a billion? What about one in 7.8 billion?! While I don't spend all of my time doing math for fun, I do actually understand math pretty well, (I can still help my oldest son who's going into 12th grade) and I like being able to calculate things and prove things numerically. So here's my mathematical proof that I'm one in a million.
The world has about 7.8 billion people (source 1) I live in the United States, which makes up about 4.25 % of the world's population, with about 331,000,000 people (source 2). I am white (76.5 % of US population) and female (50.8% of that) (source 3). In the U.S., 46.7% of people aged 35-44 have an associates degree or higher (source 4). I couldn't decide whether I wanted to go into special education or regular education, and Scott and I were ready to have a family, so we put my education on hold. And honestly, I'm still not sure which one I'd prefer, but I LOVE teaching. So far, these things aren't even really THAT unique. However, I do play the piano, (and I wish I could teach piano to so many more students than I do, I seriously love it.) Only about 10% of people play musical instruments (source 5). I am also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, only about 2% of the US population (source 6). I have an unusually large number of children for today's day and age (and I absolutely love being a mom of a big family, and each child was planned and is adored, though not EVERY moment). From the source I could find, only about .84% of families in the US have 3 or more children per family (source 7). In order to combine all these decimals, I have to multiply them out. Currently, I'm at .00000013%. Guess what?! That means I'm already rarer than 1 in a million. But I'm also among a select few who have had a baby die. The infant mortality rate in the US is 0.0058. I've given birth to 7 beautiful children, but one of them passed away. I'm beyond 1 in a million already. If you added in other traits I have, you'd find that I become even more of a rarity. I sing. I'm good at math. I am afraid of reptiles and amphibians. I've cut open and eaten a jackfruit (they're delicious and WEIRD).
The point of this post isn't really that I'm a rarity, though. It's that EVERYONE is a rarity. Any person on this planet could start finding statistics about themselves compared to the rest of the world and they'd find that they're already beyond one in a million. My next door neighbor is a very kind man, and he is black. He's married to a woman who is hispanic. (And their two kids have GORGEOUS skin, by the way.) These are things that make him unique, rare, and a keeper. One of my younger sisters has Hashimoto's disease (which only affects 1-2% of the population, see source 9). She sings. She's quite tall for a woman. She was raised by conservatives, but she's liberal. There are all kinds of things that make her unique. She's way beyond one in a million.
Every life is so important. My black next door neighbor. My little sister. Me. My son who died. The man who cut me off as he hurried to wherever he was going. The person who checked out in the line at the grocery store in front of me. George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. David Dorn. Shay Mikalonis. Sargeant Damon Gutzwiller, Sargeant AlTerek Patterson. If you know who the first few names are, but not the last few, then look them up too (source 10). They each are also beyond one in a billion.
My point: we NEED to stop dividing against each other. For gracious sakes, we have thousands upon thousands of precious, rare people out fighting and hurting other precious, rare people, trying to prove that they matter. People are fighting, dying, over who is important and who matters. While I believe all lives matter, and the point is that all lives are precious, we need to make sure that everyone realizes that ALL lives are precious and rare. Black people's lives need to be protected--they should be treated as precious (they're more rare than white people, statistically), but they're sadly far too often not even treated as equals. That's sad. I believe that everyone should be able to stand behind the saying "black lives matter". And when I say that, I include black police officers, black shop owners, black conservatives, black people who are middle class, and black people who are lower class, who are ALL beyond one in a billion.
Speaking of precious lives: the last two names I identified are police officers who died of Covid 19 exposure in the line of duty. Too many people are so worried about their own "freedom" to do whatever they want that they've forgotten to protect the other precious 1 in a billion that are out there. I know not everyone can wear a mask, but go to source 10, and doublecheck my counting. Of the 110 officers killed in the line of duty, 28 of them (so far) have died from Covid 19. If you're in the "blue lives matter" camp (and I think everyone should be) then wear the mask, if you can. I realize that another precious rarity is asthma, and another precious rarity is claustrophobia, and those are legitimate reasons to not wear one. (So heaven sakes, people, stop judging if someone doesn't wear a mask, because the person not wearing one is a precious one in a billion too.) But too many precious police officers (and more) put their lives on the line because they know that other people are precious and need help, and those 28 sacrificed their rare and precious selves for others, and died from this pandemic.
So if you're reading this, know that you literally are rare. You are precious. There is NO one in the world just like you. Your passions, your loves, your traits, your history make you unique and special. And it is not unique or special to belittle or mistreat another precious soul. It never has been, and it never will be. I believe the police need to be in the "black lives matter" camp for this to work. I believe the people of color are going to need to realize that "blue lives matter". I believe Republicans and Democrats are both going to have to realize how important each life is and find a way to do their best to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. People are going to have to learn to respect and treat each other as the truly precious human beings that we are, and we need to watch out for each other and protect each other however we can. Or the things happening in the world right now are going to continue to divide and conquer us, instead of the other way around.
SOURCES
1. 7.8 billion people in the world https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#:~:text=7.8%20Billion%20(2020),Nations%20estimates%20elaborated%20by%20Worldometer.
2. How many people in the U.S.: 331,000,000 (about 4.25% of the world's population)
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/
3. Female 50.8%, white 76.5
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI525218#RHI525218
4. 46.7 % aged 35-44 have an associates degree or higher https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p20-578.pdf
5.Play a musical instrument 10% https://www.statista.com/statistics/352204/number-of-people-play-musical-instrument-usa/
6.Member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 2%
https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/montana-wyoming-among-states-with-highest-concentration-of-mormons/article_611a4e07-e710-5199-a748-f656dd2e15d2.html#:~:text=Nationally%2C%20Mormons%20account%20for%20only,religious%20group%20in%20the%20U.S.
7. Have 3 or more kids per family .84% https://www.statista.com/statistics/183790/number-of-families-in-the-us-by-number-of-children/
8. Infant mortality rate in the US is 5.8 deaths per 1000 births. (.0058%)
https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/infantmortality.htm#:~:text=About%20Infant%20Mortality,-Infant%20mortality%20is&text=In%202017%2C%20the%20infant%20mortality,the%20United%20States%2C%202017).
9. Hashimoto's https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/hashimoto-thyroiditis#:~:text=Hashimoto%20thyroiditis%20affects%201%20to,be%20related%20to%20hormonal%20factors.
10.Officers Down memorial page for the US 2020 https://www.odmp.org/search/year/2020
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