Value and Worth

The other day a friend of mine posted a link on her facebook page. It was a list of advice. Always being open to helpful advice, I browsed on over. There were some very reasonable and thoughtful suggestions. And many of them confirmed ideas and principals that I already try to live by.

One segment gave me pause. Here is a play by play re-enactment of my brain while reading this part of the article:

“If you want love, give love.”

Check. I have a lot of love in my life. I love my family very much, I love my friends, and I love my fiancé, and let me tell you, I feel their love coming back at me every day.

“If you want friends, be friendly.”

Another check. I’m a pretty friendly person. People have mentioned to me I smile a lot, and I find myself with some pretty amazing people in my ranks of friends.

“If you want money,”

Ohh, I want money. I am barely able to pay my rent each month. Will this sentence hold the key to the equation that I’ve been obviously missing?

“provide value.”

Ooof. Value you say?

This stuck with me enough to echo in my head as I fell asleep that night. It wiggled into my brain so much that I thought about it the next day.

Do I provide value? Do I provide worth in my day-to-day interaction with the world?

Honestly, no.

(Then I took a few hours to wallow in that terrifying realization.)

I provide nothing of value, nothing of worth. Does that mean that I am worthless? Yuck. I don’t want to believe that. I don’t want to be wasting precious seconds of my short time here on earth NOT doing something of value.

(I took another hour to let that dark thought rattle around in my brain before switching into solution mode.)

How do I make myself the kind of person who provides value? At this point, it has very little to do with the money (what initially lead me down this rabbit hole) it has to do with me doing something with my life.

The first thing I can think to do is to define what I think provides value. A pretty big question. A very loaded question. A question that I seriously doubt has one correct answer.

While thinking about this question, the things of value I was brainstorming were understandably pretty spread out across the board. Upon further reflection, I found the things of value were coming from three distinct groups of people. So without further ado, I give you the people who (in my opinion) provide value.

(In order that I thought of them… which probably means nothing)

Explorers:

These are the people at the tops of their field; they are on the cutting edge of the known and the unknown. They draw conclusions, connections and creations from research, observation and brain-power. They explore new cultures, new planets and new ideas. They invent new technologies, new medicines, shed new perspective on history, and start all over again with new questions. These people expand humanity’s knowledge of the universe in which we live. I would say that is of value.

Examples: Inventors, Chemists, Historians, and Philosophers.

Community Servers:

These people are what allow civilization to exist. They work hard every day, to keep citizens safe, healthy and nurtured. They climb burning buildings, get coughed on (and heaven knows what else), they walk down dangerous streets and stand in front of a room full of high school students who would just as soon not be there. They perform what is so often a painful, dangerous, difficult and thankless task so that we all can enjoy the rewards of trains that run on time, knowledge in children’s heads, safe streets, and flowing sewers. These people maintain and expand civilization. I would say that is of value.

Examples: Fire Fighters, Teachers, Police Officers, Doctors and Parents.

Leaders:

This was the last category I thought of. I had a few remaining examples of things of value and people who have done valuable things that didn’t fit well into either of the above categories. These are the people who inspire everyone else. They inspire change, they inspire awe, they inspire people to question themselves or to believe in themselves. These people hit a chord that resonates with someone else, and in the case of great leaders resonates with a great number of people, often regardless of time or distance. These are the people who shape the world by focusing the consciousness of many towards a shared experience, aesthetic or ideal. These people inspire others. I would say that is of value.

Examples: Martin Luther King Jr., Joanne Rowling, Winston Churchill, Leonardo Da Vinci, Johann Bach.

So you see, I have a pretty broad spectrum of value-laden options available to me. It seems clear that you do not have to pick just one category to remain in for the entirety of your life. You can switch roles mid-stream or even occupy all the roles at the same time. This is just phase one of providing value: defining value. Next I will need to choose a course of action and execute (something notoriously difficult for my generation). Are there any categories I missed? Any recommendations about what genre might be a good fit for me to start exploring?

~Claire Out.