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There is an issue that faces our leaders and how they craft policy. It is whether or not to throw resources at economic development or throw resources at health and wellness. The man in this video has utilized an outstanding website in order to analyze data called Gapminder. He is comparing GDP, infant mortality, life expectancy and family size. All the data is animated from information taken over the last 40-50 years. This is an extremely powerful way to view data. Because you can see with a certain amount of precision how social policy directly effects the community.

These are tools, free tools, we have access to as a community. These tools can be used to help shape our nations policies concerning areas of a world economy our ancestors and past leaders perhaps never could have imagined. Using these tools does not make us less Osage no more than the introduction of the horse eroded our cultural integrity. It is simply a tool we can use to assist in the sustained viability of all Osage people. Do I expect our grandparents to utilize this? No. But do I think this type of information can ensure that my generation of young parents will have access to the type of environment which allows them to grow old and be grandparents and great grandparents? Yes.