I have been thinking about value a lot lately. Especially in light of the economic upheaval we seem to be in. So.. what makes something valuable? The market economy started when people began trading things.. mostly foods.. one farmer grows corn.. another grows carrots.. then they trade. Then, some cultures introduced other things into the mix.. such as services.. and then shiny rocks, IOUs (money), etc. One culture I can think of carved rocks into discs.. the bigger the disc, the more valuable it was. They started making some very very large stone circle thingys. Suddenly, people were trading things that were useful for things (food/services) for things that were not useful for anything.. what does gold do for you when you are hungry? The only thing gold has going for it is the fact that everyone seems to want it. But why? It’s just a shiny metal?
So, here we are in 2008… we all decided that houses were the very best way for people to make money so houses became so ridiculously valuable it didn’t matter what it took to get a house.. it was always a safe bet. It wasn’t. It’s quite possible that we.. as a culture… are going to have to evaluate the meaning of value.
The bigger picture: I often struggle with the value of humanity in general. Why would God be interested in the equivalent of space bacteria. We are just dust, in a dust cloud, floating on a speck of dust. Nothing.. less then nothing. We kill each other over shiny rocks. If I were on omnipotent being I would probably take more joy in watching our little planet cook off in the sun then waste my time with humanity. New stars and planets are being made every second (probably every millisecond or less) in this universe.
But then I look at my children. They are getting somewhat useful now.. especially the bigger one… but the value I place in them is ridiculous. They are WAY over valued. I would give absolutely anything for any one of my children. Talk about inflation. They went from being worth nothing.. to being worth billions too me. In and of themselves? Small bags of cells/tissue/etc… incapable survival in the wild.. nope. Not too much value there. But to me.. priceless.
When my parents say things like that to me.. it’s hard to understand. And that is probably why we struggle with God so much.. it’s hard to believe that God could possibly be interested in us space dust. And that is also probably why he had to speak our language. I can tell you that I love my children, but until you see me suffer a slow agonizing death for them.. what more could I do?
