Ripley's Essay 'What Is Life Worth'

715 Words2 Pages

How to Value Life Everyday, people all over the world leave the world die of natural causes and cause pain to many loved ones. Sometimes people die because they were somewhere they were not supposed be at. For example a man who was driving back from work died in a accident because a drunk driver hit him. Life can be wonderful but it also comes with many painful experiences. The government usually pays for someones life when an accident happens and how much money the family gets would depend on many factors. However life should not be treated as an object that can be replaced. Human life is precious and it should not be valued by materialistic things, instead it should be valued by emotions. Illnesses can be inevitable sometimes in life because …show more content…

During these battles, many innocent people may get hurt because they were at a certain place at the wrong time. A great example of this would have to be the bombing of the twin towers. Many people lost their lives while they were meandering through their day. The families who lost their loved ones were paid a certain amount of money to “pay” for their lost loved ones. In the article, “What is Life Worth”, Ripley states, “Pain and suffering- non economic losses, they are called. Tack on an extra $50,000 in pain and suffering for a spouse and for each child” (Ripley 7). This shows that the government is not paying the mourning family for the value of the person's life but more of the economic value of the person. The money seems to be more for financial help than the value of a person's life. Money should not be the unit used to measure a human beings …show more content…

Hamlet does an amazing job in showing how life and how it is valued depends on each person. In Hamlet’s soliloquy, “ to be, or not to be” , Hamlet states, “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come” (Shakespeare act III, Sc.1). This describes how people have not discovered what happens after death. It could maybe be like a peaceful dream or end in a hellish land. People are scared of the afterlife because they don't know what happens next and not knowing causes fear. Therefore, people tend to value life even more because they do not want to die and go into an unknown

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