For what it’s “WORTH” — An exploration of value, grief, and the oldest complaint in human history

Mind you, I just happened to be scrolling on reddit, and then I came across a meme which informed me about the following.

The First Name

The first recorded name in human history belongs to a complainer. Not a king. Not a prophet. Not a poet.

The name was found on a complaint letter written by a man named Nanni, regarding the value and quality of copper he bought from a merchant named Ea-nāṣir.

The written record begins with a dispute about worth.

The Question

This made me think about the concept of “worth.”

It’s a human concept, right? I think not. To some extent it is, and so to that extent, the human sense of worth can be destroyed and deconstructed.

But what is it that defines worth?

The Origin

In plain terms, as I see it: the only thing worthy is a sentient life. That may be the founding basis.

How did this idea emerge?

Before it was realized, I guess it was a feeling. Every sentient being mourns the loss of a close one. That mourning materializes worth and value. What started as a feeling became a much more complex concept, with many human twists.

The Overflow

Then came the value and worth of objects.

One could argue that the feeling overflowed to other things belongings, possessions, things people owned.

As civilizations grew, people became greedier, more twisted in their own sense of sophistication and aristocracy. They began assigning worth to possessions.

The System

Imagine how clever and cunning the person must have been who created the system of money. The one who thought of twisting this very concept of worth and bending it to their own benefit.

A system grew. More added to it. It became an abusive cycle of the abused and the abuser. Those on top bent the system to their liking.

Now it’s a cage that holds everyone hostage. The ones with the keys are the ones who built it.

The Way Out

But if you return to the fundamentals of worth; the feeling, the grief, the sentient life, you might find a way to break free of this mode of thinking that the system forces upon us.

The ones who see this? The ones outside the cage?

They are pathologized as madmen. Lunatics.

Nobody inside questions. Even if they do, they dare not speak against it, for there are other things they value.

The Freedom

Still, there is a unique sense of freedom in that insanity.