This sticker has been on my fridge for almost 3 years now. Every time I see it, it sounded funny but correct. But it never struck me as a seed for a blog article here. Now that I am more into blogging, last night when I saw the sticker, it immediately struck me that I should blog about it and so here I am.
What do you think about this quote? Do you think it is true or not? Let me put forward my theory here. For me it sounds more true for an ordinary citizen than a VIP. As an ordinary citizen, are not we all working hard and trying to earn as much as we can just to feed ourselves and our families. Of course to be able to feed includes buying groceries. But when we die whatever fortune we earned until then is of no use as we have spent most of them in buying groceries and nothing comes with us.
Take the case of a VIP. A VIP like any national leader spends money on his/her groceries too but consider the amount that the government would be spending to safeguard his/her life by employing security guards, providing high-security modern cars and anything else that might give the ultimate protection for the leader. If we sum up the total costs of providing security to the national leader, I am sure it would be way above the cost of groceries to feed the national leader and his family.
With all the talk of American healthcare reforms going on, isn’t it true that in today’s scenario an ordinary citizen with any life threatening disease like Mesothelioma or any other type of cancer would eventually have to die probably due to the fact that his/her health insurance company refused to provide coverage any more or even refused to pay prescription cost which is obviously sky-rocketing by the day for all major illnesses. (I plan to write a blog very soon on the sky-rocketing costs of prescription drugs). When the individual dies for the reason that the insurance company refused coverage, would you not call it as the insurance company categorizing the individual’s life as cheap and of no value to be saved without realizing how important every minute of his/her life would mean for his/her family. So in this case eventually the individual’s life is cheap compared to all the groceries that he/she might have purchased in his/her lifetime.
Consider the same situation for a national leader. Do you think the insurance company, in this case the federal govt., would dare to refuse coverage for the leader just like any other ordinary citizen. I think you know the answer to this.
So I believe, in a way, yes Life of an ordinary citizen is cheap but Groceries cost a fortune for them. For VIPS’s Life is more expensive than the Groceries.
What are your thoughts on this? Let them roll by here.3
Very true...Especially love the part of VIPs life
ReplyDeleteI never thought about this issue from the perspective that you presented !! Yes, it is very true :)
ReplyDeletethat's an interesting theory, but does it mean the cost of life is different depending on social status of the person?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anupama & Wecognize for the comments.
ReplyDeleteLena - Yes, unfortunately that is the case in today's world.
Lena has an excellent point. What angers me is that our government has so many wasteful things to spend money on, including the money sent overseas, while so many US citizens are, literally, going hungry in our own country, each and every day. Look at the growing homeless populations, and many are not even reported. The cost of groceries, to some, is teh difference between life and death, but, unfortunately, those lives don't matter as much to our government as many wasteful spending bills.
ReplyDeleteExactly Alicia. That is my point. It is strange yet true that in the world's wealthiest nation there is a difference between rich and poor and not everyone is treated equally as a human life. Is it not that the word "wealthy" means "Not poor". I think this will continue and do not expect things to change big time any sooner though I wish if it would change and all are treated equally.
ReplyDeleteWell explained- that's true, Sir! The disparity between the rich and the poor is sickening, especially about costly and costless lives and groceries compared.
ReplyDelete