Self-Worth
what gives us worth?
what a challenge it is in our competitive world
to resist judging ourselves by comparing to others,
how seductive it is to compare quantities:
the size of our houses,
the fanciness of our cars,
the size of our paychecks,
in sports when one team plays another,
the result is zero sum:
plus 1 for the winner, minus 1 for the loser,
and that makes zero,
how much worse it is when the numbers
are a hundred, a thousand, a million,
do we need to feel better than the others
to feel good about ourselves?
our culture shouts at us
that whoever has more money is better, happier,
that money, income, differentiates among us as to worth,
when we are closer to the edge,
the level of our monetary resources can be determinative,
if we are comfortable, even if not indulged,
than we should feel our value otherwise,
such as in how what we do
matters to those we care about,
in the impact of our lives upon the lives of others
we learn to care about,
in Christianity, many believe that St. Peter
will meet us after we die and judge our lives,
I doubt how impressed he will be with our paycheck,
when I’m slipping away at the end of my story,
I hope I will find the worth of my life
in how much the world is better
because of how I lived.
by Henry H. Walker
January 11, ‘18
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