I have a declaration to make. I have less than 600 facebook friends and about 360 phone contacts. That’s how large (or small) my social circle is.
I have a confession to make. Although I haven’t done the math, I’m quite certain that I actively maintain friendships with less than 20% of them (I’m being generous with myself). It’s nothing new. Oxford University Psychology Professor Robin Dunbar actually did the math and theorised that people can maintain only about 150 stable relationships at any point in time. And if he’s right, that means that we can only love and care for 150 others in our lives. That number is probably smaller in my case.
In comparison, Melbourne is home to over 4,800,000 people. Australia has more than 24,000,000 people. This WORLD has 7,610,017,132++ others living with you and I. What a startling number!
And what a pitiful number 150 looks in comparison.
Why pitiful?
I recently attended an event by the International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM works to end slavery in this world. They tell us this. There are over 40,000,000 slaves living amongst us today. That’s more than the entire population of Australia. 1 out of 4 of them is a child. That’s double the population of Melbourne in unimaginable suffering, in need of rescue, in need of tender loving care because of slavery. Let’s not count the free sufferers just yet.
I think back to the supposed 150 in my life. This mere, measly, nanoscopic 150 in the grand scale of things. Even so, I struggle to consistently love and care for these 150 precious individuals in my life. And I’m sorry for considering myself a loving person. Truly, humbled.
Do you ever feel like this world is too large for you to care for, to be responsible for?
With the rose-tinted glasses off, I now clearly see my limited capacity to love. And it can get incredibly discouraging. A good friend of mine rejected my invitation to the same IJM event on that account – she had no spare capacity in her heart to care for the world’s enslaved.
Well my dearest friend, I feel you. Love is a big word. It is a big call. It is a big ask. And we are but mere mortal, finite and ordinary. But dear friend, we are not asked to be Saviours. Neither are we expected to be one, that is the job of another. So don’t let the magnitude of the task of ‘social justice’ scare you away. At the same time, let’s not let our limitation be an excuse to build a low ceiling. Let’s not resign ourselves to the ‘150’. Instead let us, in all our ordinariness, be someone’s ordinary hero.
When the world is too large to love.
I have a declaration to make. I have less than 600 facebook friends and about 360 phone contacts. That’s how large (or small) my social circle is.
I have a confession to make. Although I haven’t done the math, I’m quite certain that I actively maintain friendships with less than 20% of them (I’m being generous with myself). It’s nothing new. Oxford University Psychology Professor Robin Dunbar actually did the math and theorised that people can maintain only about 150 stable relationships at any point in time. And if he’s right, that means that we can only love and care for 150 others in our lives. That number is probably smaller in my case.
In comparison, Melbourne is home to over 4,800,000 people. Australia has more than 24,000,000 people. This WORLD has 7,610,017,132++ others living with you and I. What a startling number!
And what a pitiful number 150 looks in comparison.
Why pitiful?
I recently attended an event by the International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM works to end slavery in this world. They tell us this. There are over 40,000,000 slaves living amongst us today. That’s more than the entire population of Australia. 1 out of 4 of them is a child. That’s double the population of Melbourne in unimaginable suffering, in need of rescue, in need of tender loving care because of slavery. Let’s not count the free sufferers just yet.
I think back to the supposed 150 in my life. This mere, measly, nanoscopic 150 in the grand scale of things. Even so, I struggle to consistently love and care for these 150 precious individuals in my life. And I’m sorry for considering myself a loving person. Truly, humbled.
Do you ever feel like this world is too large for you to care for, to be responsible for?
With the rose-tinted glasses off, I now clearly see my limited capacity to love. And it can get incredibly discouraging. A good friend of mine rejected my invitation to the same IJM event on that account – she had no spare capacity in her heart to care for the world’s enslaved.
Well my dearest friend, I feel you. Love is a big word. It is a big call. It is a big ask. And we are but mere mortal, finite and ordinary. But dear friend, we are not asked to be Saviours. Neither are we expected to be one, that is the job of another. So don’t let the magnitude of the task of ‘social justice’ scare you away. At the same time, let’s not let our limitation be an excuse to build a low ceiling. Let’s not resign ourselves to the ‘150’. Instead let us, in all our ordinariness, be someone’s ordinary hero.
You are not alone in the task ahead.
With much love, your friend, Yin