If you could fit the entire 6.5 billion people in the world into the City of Bonham consisting of 10,000, and maintain the same proportions of all the people living on Earth, Bonham would look like this: 5,700 would be Asians, 2,100 Europeans, 1,400 Americans (North, Central, and South), and 800 Africans.  There would be 5,200 men and 4,800 women, 3,000 Caucasians and 7,000 non-Caucasians, 3,000 Christians and 7,000 non-Christians, and 8,900 Heterosexuals and 1,100 Homosexuals.

Six hundred (600) people would possess 59% of the wealth and most would come from the USA.  On any given day, 8,000 would live in poverty, 7,000 would be illiterate, 5,000 would suffer from hunger and malnutrition, 100 would be dying, 100 would be being born, 100 would own a computer, and only 100 would have a university degree.

If we looked at the world this way, the need for acceptance and understanding would be obvious, but consider again the following statistics based on the current world population.  If you woke up this morning in good health, you have more luck that one million people who won’t live through the week.  If you have never experienced the horror or war, the solitude of prison, the pain of torture, and were not close to death from starvation, then you are better off than 500 million people. 

If you can go to your place of worship without fear that someone will assault or kill you, then you are luckier than 3 billion (that’s right) people.  If you have a full fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are wealthier than 75% of the world population. 

If you currently have money in the bank, in your wallet and a few coins in your purse, you are one of eight of 100 people in the world who are amongst the privileged few.  If your parents are still alive and still married, you’re a rare individual.  If you are reading this article, then you are not one of two billion people who can’t read. 

So?  Work like you don’t need the money.  Love like nobody has ever hurt you.  Dance like nobody is watching.  Sing like nobody is listening.  Live as if this was paradise on Earth. 

For the global population to live the way we do in the United States, the world would have to produce 500 percent more energy.  The world would have to add another two billion cars to the billions already on the road for the rest of humanity to get around the way we do.  The world would have to plan and build another Atlanta metro area from scratch every month of every year for developing nations to use land the way we do.  

How we manage our communities can no longer be measured in strictly local terms.  How we grow in and around North Texas or Dallas/Fort Worth or Seattle, or Miami affects more than the quality of life of local residents.  It influences more than just the bottom line for local economies.  It has implications beyond the environmental impacts on local watersheds.  Our decisions shape the future of the human race at a time when the population of the world’s cities is increasing more than 150,000 people every single day. 

As public officials, managers, planners, developers, environmentalists, architects, public health professionals, and advocates for cities we must embrace smart growth to protect our future. 

Please submit your questions or ideas in writing to Mike Walthall, Planning and Development Director, City of Bonham, 301 E. Fifth, Bonham, Texas 75418, or to mike@bonhamline.com