What Are Lives Worth To You? Are You Willing To Kill Someone Gradually?

When thinking about how we live our lives, it can go without saying how much we value life. We also value the lives of our loved ones. This is certainly why it becomes so hard when someone we love is hurt, sick, dying, or has past away. All of these are terrible to deal with in life. However, there are positives as well! The shining beacons in life come when we see new life come into this world, and great things happen in the lives of those we share ours with. With this in mind, what kind of value do we put on lives? Is it a dollar figure? Is it invaluable?

The Value

Valuing life is tough. This is not because all lives have a different value, but rather is it about perspective. Someone in my family will have a greater value than that of a total stranger. This does not discount the value for a stranger, it simply means I hold family higher. This is likely the case for most people. We go through our lives with this innate value created for others. We know about the value, and often take it for granted. Most of us try to convey this understanding to others through actions and words, but it never seems to do it justice. Now, this is not meant to be a sappy, heartfelt article. However, I do want you to think about your own life and the lives of others you care about. What kind of value do they hold to you? How do you think they value you? I would imagine it is unmeasurable in most cases.

The Cost

We all know what it means when there is a cost involved with something. A car costs money and a home costs money. We talk in depths about the need to manage these costs financially. However, we do not touch on the cost to another human. What are the costs in your life? Without the financial aspect, the biggest cost we all deal with is time. It is inevitable. Time then results in other costs such as age and health. These are things which cost us for which we can never pay enough to gain it all back. This is an expense you and I are guaranteed to have to pay. Our loved ones will have to pay it as well. Again, I am not trying to be morbid or sad. The point is to make you think.

The Lost Value

If we know how much value is in something, shouldn’t we try to enjoy it as much as possible? If you had a brand new Porsche 911 GT fully loaded worth $100,000, how would you spend your time? Imagin still, this car will lose value at a rate of $100 a day, and at the end of the value, you can no longer drive it or even see it anymore. In the end, you would never be able to replace it with a newer model.  WIth this leaving you with approximately 1,000 days left with this beauty, how would you spend your time? Would it sit in your garage constantly? Would you leave it in a parking lot somewhere to sit? Obviously, you cannot drive it 24/7, but you would probably spend as much time enjoying it while you could, right?

The Value Gained

Imagine now your loved ones are the car instead or you are their prized car?  Maybe you are thinking this is a silly analogy, or you already know this. You might be thinking this has nothing to do with finances at all. You would be wrong. If you are someone else’s highly valued loved one, are you using up the time you have working MORE than you have a career? Is it the thought that you NEED to work more, to make more money, to have more freedom, to spend more time with your family? I hate to break it to you, we talk about a sundry of different financial topics here, and buying more time is not something which is possible. Sure, you can budget for more time. However, there is a finite amount of time for each of us. Would you rather spend your time working 50-60-70 hours a week, or would can you keep it to 40ish? If you are sick or have unhealthy habits, would you deny treatment or help, or would you take the step to add some value back into the time you have?

The title is a little extreme. However, when you are not taking care of yourself or expending more value on the wrong things, you are slowly killing yourself. It is not all at once, however, this will be a gradual killing of yourself. It is the killing of the person others care so deeply about, and who value you without measure.

The Next Step

You do not have to listen to me. I would strongly encourage you to though. It is time to take the next steps to evaluate what are the greatest valuables you have (people in your life). What steps can you take with your job or finances to ensure you get the most value with them, and they get the most value with you?

“You are killing yourself for a job that would replace you within a week if you dropped dead. Take care of yourself.” – Jet Li