The worth of a soul is great in the sight of God. That’s what motivates my individual effort on behalf of the people with whom I interact. Now, if I’m doing more than half the work, it’s not help, so I’m not a pushover, but I have friends who can testify that when they needed something they could call on me. You see, I have learned that the most important things in our life are not things- they are people. Particularly this time of year, just like Charlie Brown reminds us, Christmas is all about the people who mean something in our lives.
While we talk about those who mean something to us, the world at large continues its campaign to cheapen the individual. They talk about people as numbers rather than names, as groups rather than individuals, by their vocations rather than their contributions. You see, whenever we need help, helicopters don’t fly themselves, dollars don’t magically fly into our accounts, and books don’t explain themselves to us. All of those inanimate objects are made useful because they are put to use by people in a positive way.
Rather than consider that you are worthy because of what you can do, some people try to measure your worth based on what you can help other parts of society do. As a teacher, I find myself measured frequently according to that very criterion, but when I floss my teeth, I do not think about the roads, bridges, or people who have nothing to do with floss. I think of Levi Parmly who popularized it as a way to clean out teeth. He wasn’t helped by a road or bridge, and maybe his friends actually got in his way or tried to dissuade him, and if so his individual worth has nothing to do with collective worth. They like to talk about how individual salvation is tied to collective salvation; ask them who must sacrifice to pay for Genghis Khan or Adolf Hitler, and they don’t have an answer. They ignore those people.
While the world measures us by what we accomplish they simultaneously dissuade us from trying to accomplish anything. They rack and stack us according to our job titles, our cars, the neighborhoods in which we live, the clothes we wear, and many other outward signs. Then they resent us for our success and think we should give that to other people who have not done anything special except to exist, nevermind how many of them are “accidents”. By telling someone that they are owed something for no other reason than that they exist, you in essence cheapen work and alter the way in which we measure a thing’s value. Their class warfare arguments exist to balkanize us so that we will turn to them, so they can play the part of the impartial third party while they suck both sides dry. I guess that’s why so many of our leaders are lawyers, because they seem to learn that more thoroughly than any other profession.
Rather than recognize the fact that you can do great things, they measure our worth based on a comparison basis. CS Lewis warned of how this is related to pride, pointing out that “It is comparison that makes us proud, the pleasure of appearing to be the best. So many of the measurements are set up on a sliding scale that reflects our insecurities, from the number of women we have conquered to the brand of our car, and instead of thinking about what we share as people, we think about how we stack up compared to people we do not know or like.
When we get right down to it, there is only one you. You need not go out of your way trying to be unique. Be you; do what you do. There are things for you to do that nobody else can do as well as you, and because of that, you are of great worth. Tolkien taught us that even the smallest person can change the world, and in the lives of the people you know, you may change their world. You built that, and even if it is small, it exists, and that means it mattered to someone somehow. In many ways, life is really like those old choose your own adventure stories. Sometimes we choose paths we do not like, and sometimes we can go back and try something else, but in everyone's life there are both challenges and triumphs. In the end, there is a way that leads to a good ending, and perhaps even better or best. You have to turn the pages, choose to which page you will turn, and then decide what to do when you get there. Nobody can do that for you. That choice is up to you. Yes, your worth can be great, and what you become is mostly up to you.
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