How Much Are You Worth?

“If I were you, I would stand for something. I would count.” -- Benjamin E. Mays

“No one can make you feel inferior without your own consent.” -- Eleanor Roosevelt

One great question, “How much are you worth?” Great answers too but with some quite intriguing. It appears that the first thing that comes to people’s minds when asked this question is the amount of money they have or some other valuable properties they own. These thoughts obviously affect their responses. Very few people place values on themselves as separate and distinct entities devoid of material possessions. Incidentally, this is the only value my question sets out to elicit. Male and female responses have been largely similar with females valuing themselves slightly more. The bottom-line has been that everyone places a very high premium on themselves. However, when you ask how they arrived at the values they placed on themselves; you find that many based their responses on subjective values. Is it then safe to say that a person’s value is inestimable? Yes, but not quite.

In my own way, I have always approached this matter this way. How much will you charge me if I ask you to give me one of your eyes? Monetary values are usually bandied around. Some people even say there is no chance that they will ever sell their eyes. Very valuable eyes indeed! Stretch this further to your hands, legs, liver, lungs etc and above all your brain. Add all up and you will be amazed how valuable you are. If you are this valuable, how come some people always believe they are worthless when it comes to facing the facts of life? Something tells me such people have never bothered for once to value themselves. Anyone who attempts this self-valuation will never again look down on themselves.

 

How Valuable Are You?

“If I were you, I would stand for something. I would count.” -- Benjamin E. Mays

Quite an intriguing question! We are told by the scriptures that God created man “in his own image and likeness.” If this does not put a final seal on the immense value of man, I hardly know what else will. If man is this valuable, he obviously must be the ultimate resource. The Brain is man’s most valuable possession. This is what confers superiority on him over and above other creatures. Man has used his Brain to master and dominate all other creatures. Man has mastered the air and harnessed it for travel, power generation and many other uses. He has traveled to the moon and sent missions to other planets. Day in day out, man continues to expand the frontiers of knowledge with the use of his Brain. For the past 100 years alone, man has made more progress at discovering new frontiers than at any other time in human history. The human Brain sure has no limits to its quest for knowledge. A man is what he knows and his Brain is the engine room that drives his knowledge machine. This is what determines his usefulness to society. The day man stops thinking, that is probably the day the world will experience a state of atrophy. Join me in a journey into history and you will get to appreciate more the value of man and his mind.

Within the last century alone, the Wright brothers invented the Airplane which pioneered air travel. This was in 1903. In 1905, a British scientist Sir John Fleming invented the Radio which has made information to travel faster around the world. In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming another Briton invented Penicillin an antibiotic which has saved many human lives. Within the same century also many other inventions like the Computer, Radar, DDT, Polaroid Camera, Solar Battery, Transistor, Laser and several other valuable products were invented as proof of the power of the human mind. The list is simply endless. Man has infinite capabilities. World famous motivational writer Napoleon Hill wrote that “You can be anything you want to be, if only you believe with sufficient conviction and act in accordance with your faith; for whatever the mind can conceive and believe; the mind can achieve.” Look around you; the tall and short buildings you are seeing, the cars on the road, the motorcycles and bicycles you see were all made by man. The original idea for each started from one person’s mind. They acted on their thoughts and you and I are today the ultimate beneficiaries. The Computer, man’s wonder invention in the 20^th century though capable of performing many amazing feats is yet to match the power of the human brain. Since all persons are endowed with brains as wonderful gifts from our Maker, is it not puzzling why some are poor and some are rich?