300 Million and Counting!

One of the big news stories today is that at approximately 7:46 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the population of the United States reached the 300 million mark. 300 million people--can you believe it? Of course, this is an estimate. It wouldn't be possible for someone to go around and count everyone at one moment and come up with a total of 300 million. But based on the average frequency of births, deaths, arrivals of newcomers to the US, departures of people leaving the US, etc., the Census bureau has determined that the US population is now 300 million and growing. It's been 39 years since the last major milestone in the US population. It was back in 1967 (a very good year) that the US population reached the 200 million mark. So in 39 years the number of people living in the US has grown by 50%. That's an average growth of 1.28% per year!

Now you may be curious--who was that person who put us at the 300 millionth mark this morning. According to Carl Haub, a senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, it was most like a baby born to a European-American (non-Hispanic) mother. But that's just a good guess. Only God knows the real answer. What's more important is that we see this population milestone as more than just a statistic. In fact, this is a call to action. As the population increases, we need to ensure that everyone has access to education, healthcare, gainful employment, adequate housing, and the other necessities of life. We need to make sure that everyone is treated fairly, justly, and humanely. As parts of the US become more and more crowded, we need to explore how we can continue to sustain life in this country, not to mention the world, without depleting all of our natural resources. And for us people of Faith, we need to continue spreading God's love to everyone we meet. The fields are ripe for harvest. Let's go to it!