I recall a visit I made to Philadelphia to attend a concert. Breaking off from the group, I decided to explore center city on my own and ended up running into an old classmate of mine from Job Corp.
We started talking and catching up with each others lives, and I found out he'd had several brushes with the law since then. Hard times can change a person, and that's when he blurted out "I'd kill you for $25,000..."
I was like "excuse me?" but he was expressing the going rate for a contract killing in "The City of Brotherly Love." He told me that people in his hood had been offed for less, but that's how much it would take in order for him to actually kill a man.
Hard times can make for desperate people, so I wrapped up our conversation and "got the hell outta dodge" as we like to say here in America.
What is Your Life Worth?
It got me to wondering about our value to the people around us. To the "former" gang-banger it was 25K per head (or head-shot I should say).
To my beloved grandmother though, I was likely considered priceless, as no amount of money could replace the kindness and companionship that I'd always shown to her.
Her function as a sort of second mother (or should I say surrogate?), made her worth her weight in gold (or should I say crypto?) to me.
My dog Spunky no doubt considered my worth to him to be astronomical as well, and there was not enough money in the world for me to have ever agreed to part with him.
Like the facets of a diamond, we all have different values to different people. Where some see a financial transaction, others see a living, breathing, addition to their lives that they wouldn't trade for the world.
I don't know what happened to that guy that I ran into in Philly. Given his background, he's likely either in jail or dead, having had a monetary value placed on himself in having his own life extinguished.
I'd like to think positive though when it comes to people like him. Hoping that he sees beyond the transactional nature in putting out someones light, and realizes the actual human value we all have to one another.
Real friendship, inspiring others to be the best version of themselves and lightening the loads of others wherever we go. That's the measure of our true value, which can never be counted in dollars.
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