Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Value of a Human Life

Through every different experience in life, I learn something new: if not about others or life in general, then about myself. Recently, I picked up a cold virus that had me weak, aching, fevering, shivering and helpless for an entire night. That was, by far, the most physically unbearable and uncomfortable experience I’ve ever had. However, it made me think about something else. Health is much more important to me than I realized. Health was a privilege that I didn’t give enough credit to. Being healthy is what made it possible for me to work on achieving my goals, attending events I needed to attend, traveling places I needed to travel, and not have to worry about anything else. Being healthy is a requirement on the road to success. In a way, being healthy gives you the opportunity to make the most of your life. And there’s that word, life. Every day, there are people whose lives are saved by a donated organ. And to those particular people, that second chance at life is priceless. Because life is priceless. Waking up in the morning, picking up a newspaper, having a job that you love, smelling the rain, finishing a task, starting an exciting weekend, winning a game, attending a fun event with friends, sharing emotions with family – priceless. And it breaks my heart to see that something so fragile and indispensable can be taken away from innocent people in a matter of a second as a result of something as insignificant as a disagreement in political ideals and misunderstanding of religious beliefs. The killings of the US Embassy staff in Libya yesterday were a cold, cruel, and most of all, an absolutely heartless act. I subconsciously draw a story in my head, of a man, with a big family: several kids, wife, siblings, parents; with a job that he is most passionate about, as that is why he is still paying off student loans for all the education he went through to get to where he is now – the US Embassy in Libya. A man in perfect health, a man that has good values and strong principles, a man that is involved in his surroundings. And then, imagine all of it’s gone. The man, the man’s involvement, passions, love, affections, fears, emotions – gone. Just because a radical group of Libyans is at disagreement with some video, this man’s life is taken away, in an instant. Without a second to think, without a chance for survival, without reason. How can someone intentionally take away the one most valuable, meaningful, irreplaceable thing from this man and his family? A life. An attribute of the highest value – a human life.