Several zeros and ones are written down in a row. Consider all pairs of digits (not necessarily adjacent) such that the left digit is $1$ while the right digit is $0$. Let $M$ be the number of the pairs in which $1$ and $0$ are separated by an even number of digits (possibly zero), and let $N$ be the number of the pairs in which $1$ and $0$ are separated by an odd number of digits. Prove that $M \ge N$.