Popularity, Profession, Wealth – Measuring a Person’s Worth
Yesterday I was listening to the radio and a news report came on about a tragic car accident that killed five high-school students from the same school. The grief councilor came on the air to say "it is especially sad because these kids were so popular". What would happen if the students were unpopular or were part of a small group of tight-knit friends? Would that make a fatal car crash less sad? Of course not.
I thought the same as I read about the horrifying Robert Pickton case. Pickton, a BC pig farmer, confessed to killing over 49 women. Anti-poverty advocates are asking the media to stop focusing on the fact that the women were in the sex trade and refer to them as "women" instead of "prostitutes". Also, police were slow to respond to the missing women because of their status and neighborhood. Is one family’s tragedy less sad than another’s because of the deceased’s lifestyle? To me… it isn’t.
In a totally different context, I thought this as I saw the silly fight between Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump on YouTube. Trump says he is worth several-billion dollars while O’Donnell is "chubby". When he says he is worth several-billion dollars, it sounds like it means more to him than an accountant’s balance sheet calculation, it sounds like he is measuring his self-worth.
Once we start measuring our worth in terms of popularity, profession, wealth or appearance we are playing a losing game. What does popularity mean when you move to a new city? What does your profession mean if you are suddenly unable to work, after an injury or a downsizing? What does money mean if you get stranded on a desert island? All of these things can be lost or they lose meaning in different contexts.
The concept is simple – it is espoused by most religions and psychologists and the majority of us understand it on some level… but somehow reporters and news-makers keep trying to portray one person as more valuable than another based on external things. The problem is, propagating that view of one’s worth makes us forget that we are all valuable, regardless of popularity, profession or wealth.
Nice post – I think so too.. success and failure are fleeting.
Reading the first part of this I am reminded of those tragic murders that still remain unsolved (since perhaps 1993?) because of corrupt government and what seems to be a case of someone(s) thinking nearly 400 dead women are not worthy of investigating…all those women who were abducted and murdered in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico,
What a chilling story – we don’t have the death penalty in Canada but Pickton will at least go away for a long time.
That’s the world we live in Stefanie. People are valued wrongly.
I agree that people are valued wrongly and that it is the way of the world – but I think we can do better.
waow, I do not know this “Rosie”, but well, the way he is talking about her, means she would definitely deserve some attention… such attention from such a rich man always claiming counting each minute of his time…
In summary, it would be like : “I’m handsome, I’m popular and i’ve money… she is not, I don’t like her”.
This is unfortunately (sometimes) an image America is carrying out abroad… such man with such status, should behave a bit better…
No, America is not like that ! There are nice people too there… like everywhere !!!
”The grief councilor came on the air to say “it is especially sad because these kids were so popular”.”
I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit right there.