The Power of Story, a Story of Power

As an English major, I love the impact of narrative, the inspiration of poetry, and the power of words. But I am also a numbers person and value the way data and numbers also tell or enrich a story. This is about narrative and numbers combining to get at the essential matter of our significance.

It is generally agreed that the population of the planet reached 7 billion this week – today to be precise. The first billion people accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years. It took less than twelve years to grow from 6 to 7 billion.

So how big is 7 billion? CNN Reporter Kyle Almond helps us get our minds around that number with the following tidbits:

--7 billion seconds ago, the year was 1789. That was the year George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. president and Congress met for the first time.
-- If you took 7 billion steps along the Earth's equator -- at two feet per step -- you could walk around the world at least 106 times.
-- The average human is about five feet tall, accounting for children, and if you stack those 7 billion people end to end, they would reach about 1/14th of the way to the sun -- or 27 times the distance to the moon.
-- 7 billion ants, at an average size of three milligrams each, would weigh at least 23 tons (46,297 pounds).

If I am but a mere three milligram ant among 23 tons of ants, how can I possibly make any difference?

Those numbers tell a powerful part of a story, but this is where the narrative and poetry come in. Recently I was privileged to hear a Sunday morning sermon by Rev. Paulsson Rajarigam, an Episcopal priest ordained in the Diocese of Madras (India) who now is both a Vicar and middle school math teacher in New York.

He combines narrative and numbers – religion and math -- in a math problem he gives his students. Referencing the movie “Pay it Forward,” he poses two questions. Suppose one person (you) were to begin a chain by reaching out to one other person in an act of selfless, unconditional love (agape). We know from experience that we are capable of a powerful enough act of love to affect and change both the giver and receiver. And suppose that the next day that person reaches out to another. And if each day the person touched would reach out to another in a daily chain, Rev. Rajarigam asks, would it be possible to reach the entire world with a touch of transformational agape, and how long would it take? Easy, right? Each person, one act one day, would take 7 billion days, which is roughly 19 million years. But the task eventually, although daunting and overwhelming, is numerically possible – until you consider the rate of population growth. It is possible that the chain would never end, always chasing an ever-receding end point.

Now change the problem slightly. Instead of reaching out to just one person, reach out to two. And if each of those makes a commitment to touch two people and so forth, then how long would it take to touch the entire population of the planet?

Do you think that number of days will still be some incomprehensibly large number just smaller than 7 billion days? Maybe half of that? Or a fourth? It turns out that a chain of one person affecting the lives of two, who in turn each affect two more the next day, and so on, will take….(drum roll, please)…33 days.

Yes, that’s right. By making just a small change and a modest and manageable commitment, the world can be changed – every single life touched – in a mere 33 days. Father Rajarigam said, “Jesus is challenging us to join him in transforming the world around us by doing one act of agape – or maybe two – just like he did…you can love God in a meaningful way by showing agape love to the person sitting next to you – or better yet to a total stranger.”

That change can begin with us. The transformation of the world can begin right here. It’s actually quite do-able, if we just commit ourselves, redouble our efforts, align our purpose, and love the Lord, our God, with all our hearts, minds, and souls, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Let it begin with us. Isn’t that, after all, precisely why EDS is here?