Life is a commodity, abundance makes it cheap!

Due to the recent events amidst COVD-19 (Coronavirus), it is clear that we are in a very bad phase where people are dying in big numbers almost every hour. This is sad and heartbreaking, however, this time has a treasure of lessons to observe and learn for whoever survives and goes forward.

What struck me is a fact that the value of life is very very different depending on the country/place they are born due to several factors. I think as important commodities like electricity, natural gas, oil, etc, our life is no different, in fact, life can be a very dynamic valuable commodity depending on its abundance.

Now, you might think how absurd is to take the value of life because life is priceless and we cannot put a number on the value of life. Being said that, interestingly insurance and medical science keep doing this all the time. If you read the article from Time [Read Here], they have beautifully explained that the value of human life can range from $50,000 to $500,000 due to technical, ethical and other factors.

However, this was just to make a point that like everything beautiful and limited in the world, human life is also something that is sacred and valuable. But what if you have something in abundance which carries a good value? Do you think that still holds the same importance?

Think of it in this way; if you can have only 1 Apple/week, how would you treat it? You would probably save it somewhere secure from moist/pests, you would probably take good care while eating, and you would probably appreciate it a lot for its amazing taste and sweetness.

But what if you have 25 Apples at your home and you know you can get any amount of them at any time? What would you do differently? Would you still appreciate it equally? Would you still store it in most secure places? Probably NOT!

This is exactly how any valuation works for any commodity including Human Life! Consider the same example above with human beings. Take the example of countries like Australia, Canada, Denmark. They have systems that prove how much a human is worth. They have great medical care, they have amazing employment rules, they have great social welfare. On the other side, take the examples of countries like Hongkong, Africa, India, Pakistan. We have places cramped with people like cockroaches and hence, even if some chunk dies, it’s not a big deal.

When human beings are the same everywhere in the world, why such a drastic different change of view? Quantity!!

Yes, correct, just because like a valuable commodity, the only difference is quantity. As my title says, Life is a commodity, abundance makes it cheap.

Similarly, we all humans are living commodities which are valued differently just on the basis of our quantity in our surroundings. Say if you are a middle-class person living in a populated city like Mumbai and you are traveling to work, and randomly you hear a child crying or see a blind person trying to move his way around stairs; now how much care could you afford to provide? For how many crying children you will stop and ask their parents? How many blind people you will help? Probably One? Two? or Maybe None most of the time. Now, why is that? Not because you are a careless person but with millions of population around you, it’s so common to see all this.

Given this same situation in a country with a thin population, what would happen? Let me tell you my Real Experience

This happened with me in Sydney, Australia. I was walking from my home to the bus stop around 8-9 am and this young lady in corporate dress probably going to work suddenly stopped just a few blocks ahead of me. I was a bit scared because I didn’t understand anything at that moment and I was very new to the country at the age of 16. She turned back and asked me, “Do you hear a baby crying?” and I go like “I am sorry, what?”

She is like “Someone’s baby is crying, please listen hard” and after a few seconds, I heard some sound of a child crying and I said, “Yeah, so?” and with a shocked look, she said, “Then we should check what’s wrong, shouldn’t we?”. Next thing I know, we are going inside a building, knocking on a door with suspected noise and asking them if they are okay and need any help.

So I think to keep life really a valuable commodity, we should not take bringing new life in this world as granted or as easy as we do, especially in third world countries like India, Pakistan, Africa where our valuation is already very cheap due to its abundance. The more humans on any part of the land will make the value of human life cheap for that land. Simple as that!

Of course, not having children is not a solution to make human life valuable, in fact, that will endanger the world more than now. There are many many things we can do.

Like, we should not create life just for the sake of it, just because our society says so, just because our religion says so or just because we are supposed to save our family name. We should create life only if we are sure to give it an environment where it can be taken care of, a proper space which a human needs, enough funds to support it and most importantly, an environment to value human being, and not just an addition of another stock to mankind.

When every individual thinks this way about life or having kids or finding ways where the value of human beings increases rather a quantity, the world would automatically see its balance and increase in the valuation of a commodity called Life!

Let me know your thoughts and feedback about this article in the comments section!