The value of the Individual - Essay Example

The Value of an Individual According to Sedaris and Doerr, the value of an individual could indeed be minute if we looked beyond the realms of our enclosed worlds. By looking beyond the earth and considering the universe with all the terrestrial life, value of an individual is insignificant. We are all equal and no value can be claimed by finding public acclaim. According to David Sedaris, people only find value depending on their relationship to another. Subsets of the society such as college celebrities have self-acclaimed individuals who feel they are worth more than others are.

He poses a big challenge “If there are, in fact, billions of other civilizations, where does that leave our celebrities? If worth is measured on a sliding scale of notoriety, what would it mean if we were all suddenly obscure” (Yagelski 301). By considering the stars, it is possible to look at the universal picture of reality of life. There could be billions of stars and other civilizations. If we were all combined together, perhaps human race would be the least valuable. It is not fair therefore, to value ourselves by public acclaim.

Instead, we should all live with one another as if we were all equal. We should treat each other with fairness, love, affection, and care knowing well that we are all equal and perhaps, as human beings, the least valuable within the parameters of the whole universe. Anthony Doerr, shares the same sentiments. According to him, the universe is so large that our planet earth would only fit in as a tiny speck of dust within the universe. There are billions of other planets perhaps with more revolutionized life than planet earth.

To make it more clear, small microorganisms think they are valuable within the realms of their existence. However, we believe that we are more valuable. Similarly, there could be other forms of life that are far much revolutionized than we are. Doerr asks a series of important questions “Why are you here? Why are the stars there? Is it even remotely possible that our one, tiny, eggshell world is the only one encrusted with life” (Yagelski 313). Thinking within the limits of our own understanding only makes us feel valuable and important.

It makes us treat other people as if they were less human. We attach value depending on our status within the society not realizing that what we know is so limited. However, our value is indeed too insignificant to treat others as less human. We should all find value by regarding everyone around as equally important. Human beings should open their minds and see a bigger picture of reality. Only then, can they realize their value and worth and hence see the need to treat others equally.Therefore, it can be concluded from the sentiments of Sedaris and Doerr that human beings should not find value by public acclaim.

Human beings should think beyond the small worlds that surround them and see how invaluable human beings could be within the universal perspective. Thus, we should always strive to seek more understanding and treat one another fairly.Works CitedYagelski, Robert. Reading Our World: Conversations in Context. London: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.