A few years back I got a chain email citing statistics on global poverty and declaring that if the recipient had enough discretionary income to buy a music CD, he or she was richer than 97% of the world’s population.

I didn’t look it up, because based on my travel experience and my education, I suspected it was close enough to the truth.

This week I found a web site called globalrichlist.com. Based on data from the World Bank Development Research Group, this website allows you to enter your annual income and see how you rank globally. I’ll save my American readers any suspense: if you earn $50,000 per year, you’re among the richest 1% of people in the world. If an individual earns $10,400 (poverty level here in the US), he or she is among the richest 13.22%– richer than 86.78% of the entire human population.

The current global financial crisis is not likely to skew these comparisons very much, but it will degrade some people’s luxury, some people’s comfort, and many people’s ability to survive another day. That’s right: some of us will have to delay buying a new car, while others will literally starve to death. So before we pitch a fit about the fact that our local dry cleaner or pizza restaurant has raised some prices, let’s take a deep breath.

The Thanksgiving holiday may be a month away, but feel free to give thanks today for what you have. Go ahead and call me Pollyanna – I’ve been called worse. But I’ll never apologize for being grateful and counting my blessings. And yes, I see a silver lining to this financial crisis if people learn to spend wisely and appreciate the differences between luxury, comfort, and survival.

Another web find this week was getrichslowly.org, where I found a fascinating essay on wealth and perspective. The essay notes that people earning meager incomes today often live in greater comfort than the wealthiest people of years gone by. For example, John D. Rockefeller was one of the richest people who ever lived, and he didn’t live that long ago (1839-1937). But all his wealth couldn’t buy air conditioning. Do you work in an air-conditioned building? Do you live in a home with central air or heat? If so, you live in greater comfort than John D. Rockefeller, for all his luxury. The article continues:

“If we change the way we think of ‘wealth’ and compare our standard of living to Rockefeller’s, we’re doing pretty good. In fact, I would go as far to say the majority of Americans live an all-around more ‘comfortable’ life than Rockefeller did. Who then, is actually richer?”

It’s a fair question, especially as the world gets smaller. The organization behind globalrichlist.com says their goal is to help people gain perspective on true wealth, and maybe share some of that wealth with less fortunate people. They note that for $8 (the price of 8 songs on iTunes), a farmer in Honduras can buy 15 fruit trees.  Not 15 pieces of fruit – 15 fruit trees!

Today Americans seem paralyzed by dire financial news and an embarrassingly nasty election campaign. I hope when the dust settles we might rethink our reckless lust for luxury, learn to appreciate the comfort of our daily lives, and remember that a small share of our wealth can go a long way to improve the lives of the truly poor.