Life Essay : The Value Of Life

Should people put the value of life into monetary value or should life be kept solely as an emotional quantity? People and societies throughout the ages have been trying to answer the problem of putting the value of life into terms of dollar bills. The ancient Egyptians buried their dead with all of their worldly belongings. They believed a person’s monetary worth on Earth was over, and they should take all of that earthly worth with them to the afterlife. Modern day Americans are different from the Egyptians. Today people believe that the families of the dead should be compensated for “their” loss.

Life is all about what you make it. More so now than ever, lives are taken so much for granted and the small things are so overlooked. Many lives are lived by the wrong priorities, in my opinion. Every day is up for grabs and every moment matters.

What scale is being used to determine what a life is essentially worth? And who determines this? For most of our lives, we have grown up being taught that ‘All lives are created equally’ while this is important it is not entirely true. You would think that when you die your family could finally be at peace with no worries or fears but they tend to worry how you’re valued is being determined by law. I believe that everyone should be treated equally, even after death.

The keynote speaker of the evening approached the microphone to address the 114th graduating class of Stanford University. He was ready to give these soon-to-be graduates advice for their transition into the real world where they will face hardships. This distinguished speaker was one of the most famous entrepreneurs in history, had dealt with countless roadblocks during the course of his life, and never gave up on his technological passion. Some of the brightest students in the world eagerly stared up at Mr. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple and Pixar Animation. Little did anyone foresee that this fifteen minute speech would later become viral and motivate millions around the world. The speech entitled “How to Live Before you Die,” delivered in 2005 by Steven Paul Jobs, successfully conveyed his exigence of tenacity through his usage of pathos by narrating sorrowful and arduous steps of his life, ethos by expounding on his different entrepreneurial endeavors to date, and logos by reasoning through topics like death and the inevitable misfortune some will face during their pursuit of success.

“And then one student said that happiness is what happens when you go to bed on the hottest night of the summer, a night so hot you can’t even wear a tee-shirt and you sleep on top of the sheets instead of under them, although try to sleep is probably more accurate. And then at some point late, late, late at night, say just a bit before dawn, the heat finally breaks and the night turns into cool and when you briefly wake up, you notice that you’re almost chilly, and in your groggy, half-consciousness, you reach over and pull the sheet around you and just that flimsy sheet makes it warm enough and you drift back off into a deep sleep. And it’s that reaching, that gesture, that reflex we have to pull what’s warm - whether it’s something or someone

Lastly, Jobs describes his life philosophy, saying “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life,” meaning that he would live his life doing what he likes, not what others like. Jobs impresses and convinces the audience through logic, pulling them in. This allows the graduates to be inspired to take ahold of life.

Everyone has an outlet, some sort of passion or love that they could pursue when they needed to escape for awhile, or needed to experience self-fulfillment. Often, this is an art, or music, or some sort of athletic activity. I have always loved athletics and academics equally, and find my home both in a classroom or library, or on the court. The particular talents I have obtained throughout my life have come primarily from my family, my school, or the sports I have played.

When I was around eight or nine years old I heard my mom say to my older cousin "Sometimes you are your own best friend" It was something i always remembered but I never understood until junior year of high school. I value that more now as an adult, and i apply it to most things. I used to think surrounding myself with a large amount of people meant something, like it held me to a different standard. That immature way of thinking definitely faded near the end of high school. I've come to value the small amount of close knit friends: quality over quantity. I know now that I am my biggest supporter and I rally for myself as much as i do for any other person I love.

The 1950s had it problems with the content of its programming. With a majority of families watching at home, you would expect to have appropriate content. Controversy was really what was going on it became difficult to control it. Many things put on television were really critical and complaints flowed in. television had a problem and sensitivity was the number one problem. What needed to be done was to change how television was presented. What families needed to see was a less controversial product that did not bring up any questions or problems. This may have proven to be difficult because of the many areas that could be exploited for certain programming. People found it simple really to look into anything and write a complaint to any television

Life is a complicated twist of suffering, laughing, and learning all merging to tell a great story - or great many stories. Based on this view, "it is not the end goal or outcome of life that gives life meaning but rather the quality of the story, the quality with which one lives out and develops his or her role."

Though our society has adapted and developed, inequality remains prevalent all around the world. Our society assigns value to human live based on ethnicity and gender. Currently around the world there are over 30 million slaves in which 60,000 are in the United States. Even though slavery has been abolished in nearly every country many people still measure the value of individuals in cents and dollars. Should life be calculated in terms of money? How should we as a society assign value to a persons life? I personally believe that you can't assign a price to someones life and you shouldn’t It’s both politically and morally unjust.

The abstract idea of life cannot be explained by such simple ideas as being animated, breathing, or speaking. Ordinary machines in this century can perform all of these basic functions. The quandary with defining death is not as abstract and elusive as that of life. The problem of defining life and death has plagued philosophers and the religious bodies for thousands of years for one reason; each philosophy or religion has tried to define the meaning of life and death from only their certain perspective. The seemingly appropriate approach to this problem would be to understand the ideas presented in various philosophies and religions and through this knowledge create a new definition for each idea of life

     I can remember as a child always asking myself the “why” questions of life. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? Why do certain things happen? And is there really a God? I had always kept these questions to myself and eventually pushed them out of my mind altogether. I was raised in a Christian household and you just were not allowed to ask questions of that nature and doubt the faith. The world is the way it is because God made it that way and that is all there is to it. I was really excited to take this class because it would finally give me the opportunity to exercise my personal thoughts and beliefs. I have come to agree with Socrates that “the unexamined life is not

The life given by god has a very special meaning a value in which people sometimes forget to thank or either regret. Many students/adults believe that they are going to be popular if they have money and a good job buy forget that people are influenced by those who have learned something. Also a lot fail to remember, to earn value you must earn it.In today’s economy the government creates a value on the person by looking at the position they are held for. If you look at it from the society’s point of view they believe people should be given value according to what they do and what position they are. From an individual's perspective they judge themselves on what they accomplish and achieve.The value of the individual would

I can remember as a child always asking myself the "why" questions of life. Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? Why do certain things happen? And is there really a God? I had always kept these questions to myself and eventually pushed them out of my mind altogether. I was raised in a Christian household and you just were not allowed to ask questions of that nature and doubt the faith. The world is the way it is because God made it that way and that is all there is to it. I was really excited to take this class because it would finally give me the opportunity to exercise my personal thoughts and beliefs. I have come to agree with Socrates that "the unexamined life is not worth living." In my opinion life is a combination of