How Do You Meaure A Man's Worth?

I normally don't do this sort of thing. This "thing" being: writing, (or blogging if you will) about my thoughts, ideas, or ideals BUT this is something that has been on my mind for quite a while. What the hell am i talking about exactly? All right, here's the setup:

Ever since a friend of mine and I had a pretty extensive conversation about life, our futures, aspirations, success, and failure I have been unable to shake this one question, "How do you measure a man's (or woman's or anyone for that matter) worth?" but the question is more than just that, it also encompass the question "what is truly living life?" and "what is happiness?"

In America ('merika!!!) most people measure their worth by success, the money they make, and the stuff they have. Now sure, you need money to survive (for the most part) that's just the way the world is set up, which in my opinion kind of sucks, but I'm not trying to go off on another totally different tangent here. So a person needs money to live, and when you have a lot of money life is easier, you don't have to struggle, you are able to buy shit (not literal shit but i guess you could buy whatever the hell you want), and you are able to go and essentially do things you enjoy. Well, that's all in good if you are able to get vacation time but what about those people who just constantly work and save up money and are rarely able to even enjoy them selves? Are they happy? Are they living life? Are they successful simply because they have money?

Many times I have heard the phrase "Americans live to work while people in other countries work to live". Is it just in our country that people live this way...? Constantly working and striving to move up the ladder...for what? To make more money and save up so you can retire and THEN live and do what you want? Why do we have to wait until we are 60(?)+ years old to actually live? Anyway, ideally isn't a job supposed to be your livelihood in that it's something you actually enjoy?

How about a different aspect to this whole "measure of worth question"? What about people who have tight knit families that have gatherings and come together and laugh and talk and tell stories? Maybe they aren't wealthy monetarily but are they rich and worth something because they have family and people who care about them? Is their worth measured by the number of lives they have effected and people that love them?

What about someone who has very little belongings and little to no long-lasting relationships with anyone. Instead he spends his life traveling the world, and gaining a wealth of vast and rich experiences? Is he wealthy because of his personal experiences or does all he see and experience mean nothing if he has no one to share those experiences with? Certainly he has lived and experienced the world and that could be all he needs in life to be content, but nobody else will ever know that. But then again, does that even matter?

Everyone lives differently, makes different life choices, and has different opinions, ideals, values, and morals. For how similar we all are in our humanity, we all have separate ideas about the true "human experience". The truth is, as hard as it may be, we can't impose our personal ideas about living life onto other people because everyone lives their individual lives differently. My ideas about happiness and worth as well as a host of other topics could be completely different than yours, but well...that's okay. As much as we would all like other people to see things our way, it certainly doesn't always work out like that.

I'd like to think that humans are social beings, but sure who doesn't want to be left alone some times? (some more than others) And sure everyone (most) likes having nice things, gadgets, toys, fancy clothes, whatever...but we don't really NEED them all. Additionally, it would be nice if we could all go out and accomplish what we truly want to with our lives, but the sad reality is that many people never get that opportunity. We all have different ideas about what we want to accomplish in life, not matter how old you are, I say GO DO IT! You want to amass the world's most comprehensive collection of mid to late 1970s KISS memorabilia? Fuck, go ahead. You want to travel the 7(right?) continents searching for love? Do it. You want to work in a hospital caring for the elderly? You want to gentrify the urban projects creating clean,safe living conditions for inner city families? Sounds fantastic to me.(I truly mean that) You want to run a business, screw people over and become filthy rich? AWESOME (now that was sarcastic).

But before you do anything, ask yourself this question:

Is a person's life measured not by money, but by the richness of their experiences and the number of lives they have touched? I say it is, but you decide. Work to live, don't live to work.

Thanks for listening.