≈ I Did the Math on Life — and the Results Are a Little Disturbing ≈

 ∞ A good reason to start rebuilding respect for each other now ∞

Ok, I know. I’m an idealist. A dreamer. Naïve. Foolish. Possibly the only adult left who still believes the “Reply All” button should be used responsibly.

I think no one should suffer. No one should go without food, clothing, shelter, or education. I think life is not a competition. It’s not a reality show where the one standing at the end is the winner. And it’s short. Ridiculously short.

Based on my completely unpaid and wildly unverified research, we spend about 30% of our lives sleeping and 70% earning a living, which leaves approximately 0% for actually living. If you make it to 80, congratulations, you’ve technically had zero years of free time. I’m not saying the math checks out, but I ran it by AI and it responded with a confident paragraph and a pie chart, so obviously it’s correct.

When I re-calculated using my trusty desk calculator I came up with something slightly less depressing. Once we begin to behave like mature adults: no bars until 2 a.m., no showing up to work in what you left work wearing the night before, we carve out four honest hours a day that belong to us. Four hours.

Over 80 years, if you do the math that’s about 13 years of actual living. Crazy right.

Our lives are basically like an NFL game: 11 minutes of action spread out over three hours of commentary, commercials, and someone reviewing whether a toe was technically in bounds.

If we only get about 13 years of actual living, rather than spend so much of it arguing about the things carefully engineered to keep us arguing, how about instead we do the things together we mostly agree on. And here’s the kicker, we do agree. A lot.

Stay with me, it jumps to spicy…

So, as an example, let’s take food security. Nothing controversial about it.  

• Roughly 60% of Americans believe child food insecurity should be treated as a national priority.
• Around 80% say reducing child hunger should be a high priority for Congress.
• About 86% believe school nutrition standards should stay the same or be strengthened.

Yet 20% of the kids in our Country, one in five, experience food insecurity. To put that in perspective that’s about 15 million hungry kids in our great Country. How is that possible?

So here’s where it gets spicy.

Now, I’m not a religious man, but I’ve read the Bible. Not all 450-ish versions written in 700 languages, I do have other hobbies, but I’ve read it, both Testaments. It’s a spectacular collection of historic literature first written around 1600 B.C., transcribed for centuries by many different hands, on papyrus, leather, and animal skins using reed pens and homemade ink. If you’ve ever tried to decipher someone else’s handwriting, you’ll appreciate the margin for error.

It’s basically one of the world’s longest game of “Telephone.” Whisper a message from ear to ear  down a line of people and see what comes out the other end. “Love your neighbor” becomes “Lend your mower.”

Yet through all that transcribing, translating from language to language, and much ink smudging, one tenet remained remarkably intact: the Golden Rule.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

It’s central to all bibles specifically or implied, and even atheists and agnostics agree. It’s simple. Clear. Not open to much interpretation unless you’re actively trying to avoid what it means.

Treat people the way you want to be treated.

That’s it.

You can debate theology, argue doctrine, parse translations, and hold conferences about footnotes. But the Golden Rule doesn’t require a seminary degree or a party affiliation.

As someone famously said, “Don’t tell me what you believe. Show me how you treat others, and I’ll tell you what you believe.” That line hits harder than most Sunday sermons.

And here’s where it gets uncomfortable. If you claim moral conviction, religious or ethical, but support systems and policies where children go hungry while billionaires debate yacht upholstery, perhaps you don’t have quite the moral conviction you claim to have.

So here's a thought. Use some of your four daily “living” hours and invite your political opposite to volunteer to serve a meal at a food bank. You can still disagree about policy, but at least you found the common ground that people shouldn’t be hungry. That’s a decent place to start rebuilding respect for each other, something we sorely need to do.

Please share your thoughts!

If you click on a product link in any of our Blogs and make a purchase you’ll be buying directly from that store and we will receive a commission on any products purchased. The purchase price isn't affected and the store will be responsible for all things involved in that order.