Where is the Value?

There is a TV show called “Dirty Jobs” which I’m convinced owes its popularity to the need we all have to see someone whose working conditions are worse than ours. Maybe we should apply the same principle to our feelings about the slumping economy.

Consider that recently Zimbabwe, suffering from inflation clocked at 231 million percent, recently dropped 12 zeroes from their currency. In one day, one trillion Zimbabwe dollars became the equivalent of one dollar. Talk about a change in fortune? I was at a dinner for supporters of the United Methodist-related Africa University and the Interim Vice Chancellor, took a two billion dollar note out of his pocket and gave it away. “There really is nothing we can buy with it.”

As we reflect on the economy, maybe we need to use another yardstick for our wealth than just the number of dollars in our pocket, purser, or bank account. Do you still have a home? Can you and your family receive healthcare? Do you have transportation? Did you get enough to eat yesterday? Did you have clean water to drink?

After all, it is all about the value we put on things. Whether it is the piece of paper on which is printed the words ‘One Trillion Zimbabwe Dollars” or the face of our child who was able to get amoxicillin for their sore throat and will never have to know the threat of malaria.

Where is the value in your life?

--Rev. Dr. Ken Sloane, United Methodist Communications