Monetary vs Humanistic Value: Perspectives on Life's Worth

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What is life worth to you? Some believe ones monetary value is determined by the amount of money they had when they were alive. Others believe value is based on your personal life and how you impacted the people around you. Society through the years has been trying to answer the problem of putting the value of life into terms of money.
In the play Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, Hamlet feels extremely negatively toward life. “To be, or not to be? That is the question—Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them?”(Shakespeare Act III Scene 1, Lines 57-61). This is saying, “The question is: is it better to be alive or dead? Is it nobler to put up with all the nasty things that luck throws your way, or to fight against all those troubles by simply putting an end to them once and for all?” Hamlet is contemplating whether to move on from his father’s death, take action, or kill himself. He felt that life …show more content…

“The concept of assigning a price tag to a life has always made people squeamish.”(Ripley Paragraph 2). Ripley takes a neutral stand towards life and its value. When talking about the families of the victims of 9/11 and the money the families received for their losses, she notes, “Some view the money as a halfhearted apology for the breakdown in security and intelligence that made the attacks possible. Others can’t help seeing the award as a callous measure of their loved one’s value.”(Ripley Paragraph 11). There is no way of properly measuring the value of life.
Life is too short to be negative and pessimistic like Hamlet. I do not understand why people would live life without truly appreciating it. Life is a gift, so appreciate it and live it to the fullest. I try to be as optimistic as possible and appreciate all the little things that come my

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