I am (more than just) Human
More than you know
Two questions: what is “value” and how do we measure it?
A ballpoint pen is something that I use almost everyday, and it’s quite useful for me, but would I under any circumstance spend $100 for it? Absolutely not, because I’m pretty sure I could survive without one, and that money is better spent elsewhere.
I think it’s safe to say that value can be defined as whatever regards we hold towards certain things, how much importance it has, and how useful it is; that’s how a value of certain things are derived. That sounds logical and all, but in the real world things are rarely logical — if ever.
Suppose a hypothetical situation, where I have to have a ballpoint pen on me at all time, and the only place in the world that still sells it happen to sell it for $100; does that mean that all ballpoint pens are worth $100? Well, yeah. If there are no other alternatives, and there’s no way of negotiating the price down — even though we don’t perceive the value of a ballpoint pen as much as $100, then supply/demand dictates that said pen to be worth as much. I suppose I could summarize it as whatever values that can be agreed upon by the involved parties.
When things are illogical, there are bound to be inefficiencies, and with inefficiencies, someone is bound to receive the short end of the stick. I only perceive the value of that pen as $5, but the fact that I had to pay $100 means that I lost $95. You might ask “So what? It’s just a pen, big deal” and that is fair enough, but when you take the concept of value to an intangible thing, that’s where most of the problem lies.
How do you measure the value of kindness? Love? Can we even measure it? Or rather, should we? Because to be kind, to love someone, is to be human; it’s innate. Does that mean that if someone is less kind, less loving, they’re a lesser human? Because we value them less than we would like with others? I don’t agree with that, because we don’t know for certain what goes on behind the closed doors with people.
Does this also means that if we’re being more kind and loving towards people, they would value us more thus making us the better person? This one isn’t as clear cut as the previous situation, it’s a bit of yes and no. It’s true that people are more likely to be kind towards you if you’re being kind towards them, but the key word there is “likely”; it’s not a guarantee. In a world full of illogical and inefficient things, indiscriminate niceness can lead you to be taken advantage of. You’re offering a free service to people and when they’re not obliged to reciprocate the kindness, what’s stopping them to take full use of you to satisfy their needs?
Should we stop being kind at all then? After all, if people are out there to fend for themselves, what’s in it for us to help them? What is the value of being kind, if all we get in return is nothing? With the advent of social media, where attentions and impressions are the key currencies, it’s getting harder to measure the real value of true human interaction, where interactions are merely for transactional purposes and/or something to be boiled down into data. Those who have the riches stays on top, and those who don’t get tossed out into an island of misfit toys. No real meanings, no real values.
Maybe it’s not really nothing in the end. It’s not about what we don’t receive out of it, but rather, there was nothing to be gained from it in the first place. Yes there are stuffs like favors and whatnot, but true kindness can’t be valued because it’s something we all already have. If everyone already have a pen, then what need would there be to sell one? Let alone buy one. To be kind is to be human, and I like to think that we all are human, regardless of our flaws, inefficiencies, and illogical thinking.
Perhaps it doesn’t matter how many riches we have, or how charitable we really are. At the end of the day, our true value to someone is weighed in gold, and that will certainly prove someone’s worth.
