Not too long ago it was announced that NASA is tracking an asteroid called 16 Psyche. It is made completely of metal but has enough gold to make everyone on Earth a billionaire…or collapse the gold market, destabilizing the global financial world.
This scenario more or less proves that a lot of people do not understand the meaning of “value.” One dictionary defines value thusly: 1) the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. 2) a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life.
Notice that in the two descriptions there is no mention of money; money and value are not synonymous. A relationship between the two does exist, however. A person’s attitude toward money and its acquisition depends upon a person’s overall value system.
When it comes to the world’s economic systems, the value of certain commodities is dependent upon scarcity, upon availability, upon what is known as “supply and demand.” The more you have of something, the more it loses its perceived value.
Back to the beginning: the misplacement (and misunderstanding) of value is one of the biggest challenges we face in modern society. The notion that everyone on Earth could become “billionaires” with the money generated from the asteroid 16 Psyche is a case of thinking that is delusional, and which goes against the grain of financial logic.
Basically, if everyone became a “billionaire,” then being a billionaire would lose its value! In order for our financial system to work, there must be inequality; the haves and have-nots will always be with us.
In short, one of the problems we are experiencing in the world is the overvaluing of money and other material things and a misplacement of the meaning of value. Essentially, too many people place value on the wrong things. Consider the scenario of the value of a human life vs the value of money. In this day and age, a lot of people tend to place more value on money than on human life.
All over the world those who are economically challenged are slipping deeper into despair due to the inequity demonstrated by the global economy. The rich are definitely getting richer, while those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder are losing ground fast.
What needs to happen is a change in our attitudes about the concept of “values,” which are often a product of our upbringing and subsequent experiences.
It is frequently said that “Victims raise victims.” Though this may not be true in ALL cases, it is certainly true in some and, because of this, we need to become aware of the elements in our lives that dictate the kinds of choices we make based on what we value.
In the Black community, there are a number of things that would improve if we would change our values. For example, if we understood that white skin is not better than Black, we might be encouraged to trust each other more and thereby benefit from working on collaborative ventures.
If we change our values, we may come to the realization that so-called “nappy hair” is not inherently “bad hair” – it is merely different when compared to that of certain other races sharing the planet.
If we change our values, we will come to recognize that self-hatred generated by years of oppression is one of the factors retarding the Black community. The Black community in America generates more than a trillion dollars annually. That is more than some whole countries have at their disposal. Imagine what could be done if we would pool our resources; we would be a dominant economic global force.
The truth of the matter is we all must realize that humanity is our greatest resource! This, therefore, is where we should place our values; we must see the value in each other.
We must understand that if a famine overtakes us, we won’t be able to eat money; if we are overcome by massive catastrophes, we won’t find a ton of cash important, especially if we are experiencing hunger or thirst. Ultimately, we must learn the lesson that people are more important than dollars. If we can do that, we’ll learn the sky is the limit as to what we can accomplish together! A Luta Continua.
