Amanda Ripley's What Is A Life Worth?

Life, such a broad yet concise topic. A multitude of different people and cultures offer different opinions on what gives life value and how to obtain satisfaction in our lives. For example, the typical “American Dream” is defined as attaining wealth and success through hard work, while many Spanish cultures consider closeness within a family a valuable trait in life. Whether it is family, success, love, or faith, every citizen in each different culture finds what brings him or her joy and does whatever it takes to reach this satisfaction. There are three specific aspects of my life which make life worth living; these include my faith, my family, and the talents I have been blessed with. The first and without a doubt most important aspect

A great deal of people within a mass of different cultures contain talents and special abilities of all shapes and sizes. In many cases, the way people perform these specialized talents directly correlates with how they value their lives. Amanda Ripley, author of the article, “What is a Life Worth?”tackles the topic of defining whether a price or value can be placed on a person’s life. By using statistical data and anecdotal evidence from the attacks on 9/11, she touches on each side of the argument efficiently. Although she does mention that a value may be a necessity when granting compensation to loved ones of the victims of national disasters, I personally believe that this action is impossible. The value of each person’s individual talents and unique abilities forms an inability to place price tags on human life. These special gifts, although priceless as is, provide worth to extraneous areas of life as well. For example, my greatest talent in life is my ability to pitch a baseball. By pitching well, I contribute to winning many games for the teams I play on, and by winning games, my team brings joy to themselves and to the fans enjoying the game. Because a price tag cannot be placed on emotions, my ability to pitch, which brings joy or sadness to different people, is also impossible to be priced. Because the personal abilities of each and every person add to the productivity in a seemingly unending amount, it is improbable that a value can be placed on the life of a human