Danker1

Bella Danker

Bowyer

EXPOS

3 November. 2016

Value of Life

A person can not judge anothers value of life without first walking in their shoes. Each

life is unique, being made up of a series of moments; passion, suffering, and adventure. This

value cannot be seen by looking at a paper of how much money they make, or how many

materialistic items they own. This value is determined by how well a person overcomes life

struggles and continues to find their passions, or by how they succumb to these difficulties.

Many times obstacles get in the way of how a life is lived. This may be illness, a

disability, or a tragedy. When these roadblocks appear there is many times no clear path on how

to live on. In Me Before You, a paraplegic man named Will struggled with continuing life after

being disabled from the neck down. He had once lived a crazy adventurous life and after it was

altered he believed his value of life stooped down to an all time low. The value of ones life is in

the eye of the beholder, so although viewers could not understand his reasoning for ending his

life, we had not experienced each moment he had been through pre-paraplegic.

However Roger Ebert, a man who has lost his lower jaw and the ability to speak from due to

cancer, has a different outlook on life. However Ebert has not let this misfortune negatively

affect him, and instead became, a wonderful writer producing the best work of his life

(Jones 19). Each individual is different and has a different outlook on life. Will believed he could

not live on after his disability, however Ebert took this opportunity and made something positive
 Danker2

out of it. The value of life can not be seen from an outsider, but can only be felt by the person

experiencing it.

The value of ones life is not a money value. In an article about 9/11 victims

compensation the government invented a way to measure blood and loss in cash (Ripley 1).

The families of the victims earn a different amount of money based on how much their family

member would have earned over his or her lifetime (Ripley 7). However, the government

hardly takes into account emotional aspects the loss of a family member has had. By putting

different money values on different people the government is stating that each human had a

different value of life. Imagine the heartbreak a now-widow and single mother may feel when

she is told her husbands life was less valuable than that of his boss. That just because he made

less money means that his death does not matter as much and should not be compensated for.

Now she is struggling through not only the devastation of losing her soulmate, but also the

struggles of raising three children on her salary alone. One cannot have a value placed on their

life without taking into account each moment and person they have known. No money value will

ever take place of a persons parent or spouse, but stating the value of a persons life was less

than anothers is outrageous.

Each individual has the choice on how they want to live their life and how much value it

has. This value is not based on money, but on moments. Whether we rise above challenges and

continue to find our passions or not is a choice. However, nobody can put a value of anothers

life because they have not lived it. It is a persons duty to live their life to the fullest because they

only have one chance to do it right. If Roger Ebert, a man with no lower jaw can still have a

positive outlook on life, anyone can.

 Danker3

\
 Danker4

Jones, Chris. Roger Ebert: The Essential Man. Esquire 16 Feb. 2010. Web.

Me Before You. Dir. Thea Sharrock. Perf. Emilia Clarke, Sam Clafin. MGM, 2016. DVD.

Ripley, Amanda. What Is a Life Worth? Time 11 Feb. 2002. 22-27. Print.

Word Count: 673