Value

On a Sunday afternoon my son and me went to a book cum toy shop to pamper ourselves. I thought I will read some books and may buy some if I like and I will let my son play with the toys and may buy if I feel it’s worth for him. In both the cases my like was of more value because I was the financier there. Couple of hours went by and I had scanned through couple of newly arrived books. One book which appealed me was about human psychology and I decided to buy that. I had asked my son while entering the shop that he can try as many toys as possible but must pick up the ones he feels that he likes the most and is a must buy in his view. I turned my focus on my son after I was done with my book selection. By then my son had picked up a basket full of toys which he thought he likes the most and are must for him.

I closely reviewed all the toys. I took some out as I felt those are either not for his age or not for his nature . He protested every move. I being the father did not react to his protest. Finally I selected one which I felt if good for him and gave the verdict that this is the only one we are taking. He requested to take rest all, which I declined with big eyes and angry face. I kept on walking towards the billing counter and by then he had got another basket where he kept all rejected ones and kept on convincing me. He gradually reduced one by one and kept convincing. He promised that he will listen to every instruction his mother gives, he will be behave properly at every situation and many others. He finally zeroed on one out of the ones that I had rejected and requested to take that as well and finally I agreed.

So we got two toys, one which he selected and I approved and another one is what he truly liked and earned by his convincing power.

30 days past this incident, the one we both liked is not visible anywhere. Either it never came out of the packet or kept somewhere and never used. The one he earned is the one he plays every time he gets time. He even keeps that near his pillow while sleeping.

This made me understand value better and I guess economics is completely based on this. Anything that you get easily is cheap and anything that you earn after hard work is truly has some value.

With the call center or BPO boom in India young generation who were supposed to study hard in universities or preparing rigorously for the tests or exams  are earning handsome salaries. They are sacrificing quality life to earn money but at that age quality of life hardly has any value because of the young energy in blood. So they are earning lots of money which is spent on show-offs because the money earned really has no value for them. So they are spending that on stuffs that are of less value but may be higher cost.

With the social schemes that government is coming up with claiming will help eradicate poverty which is giving job to every person for certain number of days in a year with handsome daily wage. This requires hard work no doubt but does not encourage them to try harder to really come up in the economic grade of the society. In some cases people getting food grains free or at throw away price is not encouraging them to work harder and smarter to come up in the economic scale. I feel by this we are reducing the value of money and food grains. This may feed the poor but will not eradicate poverty.

I feel I need to ask myself below questions:

Can I deny taking anything that comes without hard work?

Can I still value stuffs that came to me easily?

Do I really review my belongings to know what is a valued possession and which one is not?

I guess once my answer to all these questions become ‘Yes’, I will consider myself as a grown up.

Namaste!!!

– Stray Dog