Amazing

                                     

Rebecca Strong from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan sang on "Canadas Got Talent". She won the golden buzzer from Lily Sing which gave her $25,000 and advancement into the next round. To say Rebecca's voice was amazing is really an understatement, it was absolutely beautiful. Rebecca is First Nations, and as she spoke through tears her words were profound. She said, "no matter where you come from, no matter the hardships or limitations you face, you can do anything". 

Triston, the 15-year-old on American Idol that is following his mother's words and is trying to "Be Something", continues to do well on the show. He has captured my heart and the heart of others. His talent is incredible, his showmanship is far beyond his young age. He has gone from living on the street and sleeping in his mother's car, to performing in Hawaii. He has gotten a chance to work with his idol, Jelly Roll and to perform in front of millions. The words that come out of this young man's mouth indicate he has lived a life beyond his years. He is an example of how grateful you should be. Shayna Twain was his mentor for one performance, and they bonded over their difficulty childhoods. At a young age they each sang for money to survive. Shayna said no child should have to sing for money, they should sing for the fun of it.  

I realize that you probably think you don't have to watch reality shows, because I will just catch you up in my posts. As I have said before, I don't watch any series of shows because it is too much for me to remember, people and plots! Reality shows just work for me. So, for those that do watch Canada's Got Talent, you will have seen the little 6-year-old whose talent was to identify all the flags of the world. There he stood on the stage and as they showed a flag, he said the country it belonged to. The little guy never missed a beat. OK, as a parent did you ever think, "I am going to teach my 6-year-old all of the flags of the world?". I certainly didn't but maybe I should have.

I realized that I have lived 67 years and never once gave any thought to how many countries there are in the world. A quick google search and I now know in the whole wide world there are 195 countries. The number of countries on each continent is as follows: Africa has the most with 54 countries, Asia follows with 48, then Europe with 44, North America has 23 countries, Oceania/Australia has 14 and South America has 12 countries. 

There are approximately 8 billion people in the world. Asia has 61% of the world's population with just under 5 billion people. Next is Africa with 18% of the world's population and 1.5 billion people. Europe comes next with 9.2 % of the population or 740 million people. North America has 7.6% and a population of 600 million, followed by South America with 5.5% and 440 million people. Last is Oceania with 0.5% of the population and 46 million people. 

The country with the largest population in the world is India with 1,441,719,852 people. Their population density is approximately 485 people per square kilometer. India has 17.75% of the total world population. By 2050, it is projected that India's population will be 1.7 billion. 

It is highly unlikely that I will remember these facts, but I did find them amazing. I have always known how small our population is in Canada, compared to the land we have. I can't imagine living in crowded conditions where it is elbow to elbow with people. Housing is three generations with multi families living together. The people that live like that do survive and know no different.  

I think the word, "Amazing" is not used enough. Many people practice the art of gratuity and I think we could easily do that with the word amazing. Remember, life is amazing, let's be amazing at living it.