Courtesy of JewishSacredAging.com

A recent article in the New York Times looked at the value of a human life. Various government agencies in Washington, D.C., in attempting to examine how much spending equates to a life, arrived at a variety of figures.

It seems that our price is going up, how much depending on which agency does the figuring. EPA set the value of a human life at $9.1 million. The FDA decided on $7.9 million and, according to the article, "The Transportation Department has used values of around $6 million to justify recent decisions to impose regulations that the Bush administration had rejected as too expensive, like requiring roofs on cars." (NYT. 2/17/11. "A Life's Value? It May Depend on the Agency". p.1)

How very American that the government will look at a cost analyses on what they feel is the worth of a human life. Is the teacher's life worth more than the politician? The surgeon's life than the bus driver? Interesting for a discussion on ethics or resource allocation. Yet, how sad that some think that way. For much of religious life, that value is priceless. Yes, I know that we live in the "real" world and that we cannot get what we want all the time or have access to unlimited resources just because we wish it. Still, the religious person, I use the term without limiting it to being a member of a community or even believing in a deity, knows that life's value extends far beyond any attempt to place on it a monetary value.

Many of us right now are actively engaged in the new life stage called care-giver. We tend to and care for a loved one and rarely do we contemplate any monetary equation. We know that the "value" of this life extends far beyond the temporary or fiscal. What is the "value": of a memory? An embrace? A love? A life of devotion? In many ways, for many of us, we begin to "re-pay" our loved one as we care for them, not with money, but with time well spent with them. Indeed, the Talmud, in a detailed discussion on the Commandment to honor and respect a parent, speaks to this exact question. The rabbis ask who pays for the caring of a parent and one of the answers states clearly that it is the child who pays, not via money, but through time.

Time, for many of us in this society, has become more precious than money. It is easier for some to write that check than to spare an hour or two. It is easier to "contract" out tasks than to do them ourselves. Care giving is no different. Time is more precious than riches; it enhances our relationship with one being cared for. Let the government agencies worry and study about how much my life or your life is worth monetarily. We know that our life really has no monetary value; its value rests in how we choose to live our life and how we choose to honor the relationships we have developed.

In this month that sees Christianity and Judaism celebrating a season of re-birth, of new life and freedom, let us have the courage to celebrate our own lives, to honor them and the lives of our loved ones. The cost of not doing so may be even dearer than any study could image.

Shalom,

Rabbi Richard F Address, D.Min

www.jeiwshsacredaging.cocm

As U.S. Agencies Put More Value on a Life, Businesses Fret