Equality?

[Thorne]

- Do you value this website - you did not pay for admission.

As steelish said, I pay through my ISP fees, but the real value in a site such as this is in the effort we all put into making it interesting and relevant. I would hope my own modest efforts have added to that value for others as well as myself.

- Do you value the posts and posters on here for which you have given thanks.

Every poster here has some value. Naturally, I value some higher than others, and I do give thanks when they are deserved. In other words, poster should have to earn their thanks!

- Does the hungry man value the food from the soup kitchen or bed at the hostel.

I'm sure he does, just as (as noted in your next post) we value gifts which we are given. But if our hungry man is given that gift every day, there will come a point where he will view it not as a gift but as an entitlement, and when the soup kitchen closes down he will rant about his rights being taken away.

- Does the hitchhiker value the ride he gets.

Same as above.

- Do people go intro stampede mode at stores when the word "free" is mention.

I'm sure they do, but the cost of that "free" item is spread out over the cost of everything else we buy, so it's not actually free, is it?

- Did you value your allowance - (the one you got without having to work for it)

Like steelish (and I expect, like most who received an allowance) I didn't get an allowance for doing nothing. I earned it. As I grew older and was able to do more, I received a larger allowance. Then, in order to cement my understanding of the value of my efforts, when I got old enough to have a job, I was expected to pay a percentage of my pay as 'room and board'. In retrospect, at least, the lessons I learned were far more valuable than the money I paid.

- Do people value the sermom and service they get at the church.

Apparently, though I have difficulty understanding why. But then, they've put a lot of time and effort into maintaining their church, in some form or another.So again, it's not 'free'.

- Will you value the wedding ring you get(got)

You don't just 'get' a wedding ring. You have to invest a tremendous amount of time and energy, both physical and emotional. And the future costs are even higher. And if you're as lucky as I am, it will all be worth it. If you can even think that the receipt of a wedding ring is 'free' your value system may be seriously flawed.

Paying money for something is not the only way to pay for it. After all, money is just a placeholder, a way of showing how much work we've done to earn what we are buying. Gifts received generally come from expenditures in emotional bonds. Even charity comes at a cost to someone. Being the recipient of charity should make you feel grateful to those providing it, but can also be humbling to a degree, knowing that you must rely on the charity of others. But those who have come to rely on charity, and have lost that gratitude, are the ones who make it so hard for people like me to see the 'value' in giving that charity. When charity is no longer viewed as a gift but as a right, it ceases to become charity. And it no longer has any value to society.