Is Life Cheap?

life...cheap? when you consider it costs around 300k to raise a child these days, no....life isn't cheap. On the other hand, you go to some third world countries and see the violence perpetrated on their own civilians, and you could make the case that it is.

The simple truth of the matter is that we are all trying to get through this life the best we can. I know for myself, the best times in my life is when I am helping others. I am fortunate enough to earn my living doing just that. I get up at 4AM, grumble and complain, drive into work wishing I didn't have to go, and basically wish my life away with visions of retirement....Once I get there however, I love my job....sure, I have shitty days when everything goes wrong, but you have those days when you do what I do. The bottom line is that life is what it is.

There's a blues artist named Guy Davis(son of Broadway couple Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee) who says in one of his songs...."livin's hard, but it sure beats the hell out of dying".
very true.
 
Everyone exploits other living things.
Marikandbakuracollab-1.jpg

Even a vegetarian takes and uses life.
October066.jpg


Once basic needs are met, the accumulation of resources, both living and mineral, and the power to control resources, including human resources, is the pinnacle of the concept behind "Survival of the Most Fit", and if the checkered history of this violent world confirms anything, it's that life is a cheap resource. Especially human life.


slavery.jpg

As exploited life forms go, humans have been a very profitable resource.

Slavery.jpg


The first generation on this pale blue speck of wet dust in space to show enough Sentience to understand 'survival of the species' over 'survival of the fittest' will get to see their children reach the stars.

Pale Blue Dot - YouTube

:dunno: Does anyone really need a gold pot to piss in?
gold_bath_2.jpg
You make an outstanding case for Religion.

Thank you.

If God is, and if she's visited, I'm certain in my heart that all she wanted to tell us was that the first generation to get along with each other would see their kids reach for the stars.

Gandhi said:
“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

Everyone with a spark of Sentience has a religion... Is your belief set based on your observations and aspirations for the future, or 2,000 year old dust?
 
To answer your questions in order:

1) Life can't be measured with monetary value.

2) No. No one needs gold toilets.

To number one:
I always find that statement rather funny. Nice but funny. Unfortunately, it is utterly false. If peoples lives were truly outside of cost then no one would die for lack of insurance or lack of food, shelter or a million other things that people die from on a daily bases. No, life has a price; most of us are simply unwilling to admit it….
 
This could've made for an interesting thread if the OP hadn't focused on materialism. As warped as it may seem, I sometimes wonder if I lived in a country where life is cheaper i.e - prevailing sense of instability, would I lead a 'fuller' life, in the sense that I'd be more appreciative of my existence.
 
I firmly believe that the biggest cancer to our society is the devaluation of human life.

I firmly believe that the origination of slavery evolved from eager volunteers and reluctant 'owners'.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke8WmuMO29k]Work For Food - Original Song - YouTube[/ame]




Then, like with religion and employment, some asshole figured out a way to 'industrialize' a concept that started off as charity and use it to take personal control of a disgusting amount of resources. Enough to make his brothers jealous.

History's done and here we are. WYGD? :dunno:
 
This could've made for an interesting thread if the OP hadn't focused on materialism. As warped as it may seem, I sometimes wonder if I lived in a country where life is cheaper i.e - prevailing sense of instability, would I lead a 'fuller' life, in the sense that I'd be more appreciative of my existence.

Materialism is just one side of it. Since this is the US Message Board, I wanted to focus on a concept using something that Americans could relate to.

Money and Death are the two subjects that are snazzy enough for a headline among the subjects that would count as ways to point out the cheapness of life... I suppose that the prevalence of infanticide among humans and the other animals on this planet could just as easily have made the point, but that's a pretty gruesome catalyst for conversation.

Life is cheap. If you have the capability to read this at the time that I write this, you are among the luckiest of your species to have ever lived. Have you counted your blessings lately?





INFANTICIDE - ANIMAL BEHAVIOR SCRUTINIZED FOR CLUES TO HUMANS - NYTimes.com
 
While I stand by my early comment on how we cannot measure the value of human life with money, I would point out that it isnt exactly cheap to woo a good woman, convince that woman to marry you, and create a human life with you.

At least, if you are most men.

I guess I have been luckier than most.

I definitely married up. My wife - when I first met her - was a university professor of Nursing, while I was a self-taught high-school-drop-out, immigrant-with-thick-accent computer programmer.

We have been married 43 years. We have two children. Our son chose the wrong path and got into trouble with the law, but my wife and I valued HIS life enough never to abandon him, never to betray him and always stand by him. If you need an illustration for the word "REDEMPTION" just look at our son. He served his time, and is coming home.

Our daughter gave us the two most beautiful grandkids, and I mean both physically and otherwise.

Life is something that is to be cherished from the moment of conception to the time when it is time to go.

And as far as expenses in order to voo a good woman, remember that inexpensive is not the same as cheap.
 
"Yes, in my life, since we must call it so, there were three things, the inability to speak, the inability to remain silent, and solitude, that's what I've had to make the best of." Samuel Beckett

Humans can ask questions that have so many meanings, none fit. Or even have no meaning. Evolution tells us, demonstrates to us, that life is a powerful force. Ever try to swat a fly and then ask how the thing knows you're coming. Life must mean something beyond our questions. No one wants to die. Consciousness cannot imagine its end. Imagine you had never existed. http://www.usmessageboard.com/writing/50677-life-chance-eternity.html

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~field/holzer/truisms.txt

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osuhlptx0J8]Life is a Highway lyrics - Rascal Flatts - YouTube[/ame]
 
No, life is NOT cheap.

Life is actually extremely expensive when it comes to preserving the life of a felon condemned to death.

There should not be a death sentence. Most on Death Row linger on for virtually decades, by prolonging the almost eventual. Most will live until they die a natural death.

So, why spend millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on appeals, padding the insatiable and thoroughly dishonest pockets of low-lives, known as lawyers? Why debase society (ourselves) with legalized killing?
 
I am NOT going to quote post #1 in my reply, because there is no need.

I agree with picture #2, pertaining to the undeniable fact that no matter how politically, biologically and ethically correct one is, one still has to destroy and take advantage of another life, in order to survive.

Unless, of course, the hypocrite who cries about me eating meat forgets that he/she just killed a bean or a potato or just committed a Jack-The-Ripper on a tomato or a green pepper, or by taking a carrot and dropping it in hot water and savaging it with his/her teeth.

But, then some of these vegans really DO have the intelligence of a plant. No offense meant to the plant.

So, maybe they have developed photosynthesis in their totally unnatural skinny and wizened and wrinkle-ridden bodies.
 
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No, life is NOT cheap.

Life is actually extremely expensive when it comes to preserving the life of a felon condemned to death.

There should not be a death sentence. Most on Death Row linger on for virtually decades, by prolonging the almost eventual. Most will live until they die a natural death.

So, why spend millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on appeals, padding the insatiable and thoroughly dishonest pockets of low-lives, known as lawyers? Why debase society (ourselves) with legalized killing?

:eusa_eh: Now there's another way to look at this concept!
 
Life is extremely valuable but it is also easy to lose.
To live a life of moral strength one has to realize that we are animals. We happen to be omniverous animals which means that we can kill and eat most any other animal or plant for food. It is not the act of killing to survive that is bad - it happens throughout nature. What is bad is not giving thanks for the life that has been given that yours may continue. There are responsibilities that come with our rights and one is to understand that something died to keep you alive. When you die your body will be consumed in like manner but not by animals you would notice because the poisons we use to "preserve the flesh" makes it suitable only for micro-organisms that turn the poisons into food for plants.
We all live and die. Make the most of your life and death by making life reverent.
 
Life is extremely valuable but it is also easy to lose.
To live a life of moral strength one has to realize that we are animals. We happen to be omniverous animals which means that we can kill and eat most any other animal or plant for food. It is not the act of killing to survive that is bad - it happens throughout nature. What is bad is not giving thanks for the life that has been given that yours may continue. There are responsibilities that come with our rights and one is to understand that something died to keep you alive. When you die your body will be consumed in like manner but not by animals you would notice because the poisons we use to "preserve the flesh" makes it suitable only for micro-organisms that turn the poisons into food for plants.
We all live and die. Make the most of your life and death by making life reverent.

What about the concept of exploiting life beyond meeting basic survival needs by using and harvesting living things for personal profit to hoard?

The cheapness of life, especially human life, is an attitude, not any particular action.
 

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