In its purest sense, no dollar amount can be put on this miracle we call life. Life itself is precious and money is vulgar and ephemeral. Life comes from the mysterious beyond and money is a human-created mechanism of exchange. Still, within the confines of human social relationships, we must ask: How much is a life worth?
There is no one answer. It all depends upon a person's station in life.
If an individual is a member of the ruling elite, then that life is worth a helluva lot! Money will be thrown at you for assorted reasons. Your tax responsibilities will be reduced and, in many cases, you will be completely excused from shouldering ANY responsibility to your community by not being required to pay any tax at all!
If you run into trouble -- even if your own reckless behavior caused the problem -- your fellow citizens will bail you out. We will hand you buckets of cash hand over fist in the hopes that a few pennies trickle back to the rest of us.
If an individual is not part of the ruling elite, then that life isn't worth all that much. You will be required to pay for most of the services, wars, pollution and lifestyles of everybody else. If you try to scrimp -- even a little -- on what we say you owe, the justice system will come after you and make you pay dearly for trying to skirt your responsibility to society.
If you are unfortunate enough to live near the Gulf coast in the US or Eastern Japan, then the powers that be will demonstrate for you how little your meager life is worth. In Japan, TEPCO is paying families uprooted by the nuclear disaster $12,000. The average payout for victims of the BP oil spill is $16,000.
On the surface, that may sound like a significant chunk of change. People with no jobs or facing home foreclosure might say that $12K or $16K would alleviate a great amount of worry for them. But how can such meager amounts of money replace the lives torn asunder?
In Japan, some people were evacuated with little more than the clothes on their backs. They have lost their homes, belongings, modes of transportation, and everything in between. They've lost their jobs and their children have lost their schools. $12K is a pittance in comparison!
Along the Gulf Coast, the economy is in shambles. The fish and the shrimp haven't come back. Tourism is way down. Oil sheens continue to roll in with the tide. With the fishing and tourism industries stuck in idle, few jobs are to be had.
To make matters worse, according to the federal government, "the 2009 poverty threshold for a family of three was 18,310 dollars." So, handing out an average of $16K doesn't even get a typical family above the poverty line!
The message is clear. Most lives on this planet aren't worth a lot and their value is sinking like a rock.
There is no one answer. It all depends upon a person's station in life.
If an individual is a member of the ruling elite, then that life is worth a helluva lot! Money will be thrown at you for assorted reasons. Your tax responsibilities will be reduced and, in many cases, you will be completely excused from shouldering ANY responsibility to your community by not being required to pay any tax at all!
If you run into trouble -- even if your own reckless behavior caused the problem -- your fellow citizens will bail you out. We will hand you buckets of cash hand over fist in the hopes that a few pennies trickle back to the rest of us.
If an individual is not part of the ruling elite, then that life isn't worth all that much. You will be required to pay for most of the services, wars, pollution and lifestyles of everybody else. If you try to scrimp -- even a little -- on what we say you owe, the justice system will come after you and make you pay dearly for trying to skirt your responsibility to society.
If you are unfortunate enough to live near the Gulf coast in the US or Eastern Japan, then the powers that be will demonstrate for you how little your meager life is worth. In Japan, TEPCO is paying families uprooted by the nuclear disaster $12,000. The average payout for victims of the BP oil spill is $16,000.
On the surface, that may sound like a significant chunk of change. People with no jobs or facing home foreclosure might say that $12K or $16K would alleviate a great amount of worry for them. But how can such meager amounts of money replace the lives torn asunder?
In Japan, some people were evacuated with little more than the clothes on their backs. They have lost their homes, belongings, modes of transportation, and everything in between. They've lost their jobs and their children have lost their schools. $12K is a pittance in comparison!
Along the Gulf Coast, the economy is in shambles. The fish and the shrimp haven't come back. Tourism is way down. Oil sheens continue to roll in with the tide. With the fishing and tourism industries stuck in idle, few jobs are to be had.
To make matters worse, according to the federal government, "the 2009 poverty threshold for a family of three was 18,310 dollars." So, handing out an average of $16K doesn't even get a typical family above the poverty line!
The message is clear. Most lives on this planet aren't worth a lot and their value is sinking like a rock.
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