Every so often I’ll take a look at the World Population Clock on the internet. I did it again just now. When I looked at this writing, the current world population is 7,744,916,927 and counting.

The sign on some McDonald’s restaurants which reads “Billions and Billions served” doesn’t sound so farfetched anymore. (Especially when I’m waiting in line for my Egg McMuffin).

Regular readers of “Inside Sanpete” know that I like to play with numbers occasionally. I’m not a mathematician, as all my past school teachers could verify, but on a good day I can add, subtract, multiply and divide.

The way I figure it, using the round number estimate of 30,000 residents in the county; one out of every 258,164 people on the earth are Sanpeters. When I checked just now, the current population of the U.S.A. is 329,812,918. So, I calculate that one out of every 10,994 Americans are Sanpeters.

This might make a Sanpete resident feel like a “spit in the ocean.” The insignificance factor sets in a little bit if you sit and ponder it too much. The Pink Floyd song “Just Another Brick in the Wall” comes to mind.

However, when I think about it from a different angle, I believe that Sanpeters should feel a high degree of significance in their lives. Regardless of the size of the world population, Sanpeters have the advantage of populating the small population which comprises “the world of Sanpete” In a significant way, less becomes more – if you catch my drift. I’ll explain and give an example.

Because of our small numbers, we mean a lot to each other. Ironically, being “small” can be “huge” when it comes to feeling like we have a place in the world that means something.

This was evident last Friday night in Manti. There was a fund raiser dinner and auction/raffle event held to benefit a Sanpete resident. Amber Olson is in a fight with brain cancer and needs lots of support.

Sanpete showed up for the event. I don’t know specifics, but by all indications from my observation, it was a great success. I heard, unofficially, that there were well over 600 people who had dinner. It was truly a demonstration of the kind of love and support that the Sanpete community gives when needs arise.

So even though we may not be a significant portion of the world or national population here in Sanpete, we are significant! We are important to each other as we experience life together – working and playing. We see each other at the movies, at the restaurants and at weddings and funerals.

When we go to the store, it’s a social event. When we drive on our highways or up in our canyons and mountains, we recognize each other’s vehicles and we honk, nod and wave.

I maintain that we are a noteworthy part of the world population. We live in and care for a sizeable chunk of the world’s real estate, relatively speaking. I figure we have about 18.7 people per square mile in Sanpete’s 1,603 square miles.

Compare that to Rhode Island, the smallest state in the country. That state has just 1,545 square miles. And about one-third of that is water. The population density is about 1,081 people on average for every square mile.

Another number that I heard recently was 80 million. That’s the estimated dollar number of what the Powerball multi-state lottery jackpot was for the drawing yesterday. It’s not a gigantic amount as these jackpots go, but it’s nothing to scoff at.

If a generous, sharing person from Sanpete would win that, each person in Sanpete could have $2,666.66. That’s assuming that the winner could keep the total jackpot amount (which is a false assumption). Of course, any Utah winner would have to go out of state to play the lottery, as Utah is a non-lottery state.

Numbers can be fun. I hope for good numbers for all of you. May your tax refund and paycheck numbers be high and your blood pressure and cholesterol numbers be low.