The Value of a Person

At breakfast this morning Dad remarked that he was worthless. He is ninety-five years old, and in the last year or two his mental and physical function have dramatically declined. After an intensely active life, he is becoming helpless. So I think I understand his feeling. But I pressed him.

Me: What makes a person worth something?”

Dad: If they can do something useful for other people.

Me: So babies are worthless?

Dad, after reflecting for a minute: “Yes.”

Unfortunately, his words ring true as a statement of his fundamental opinions. His moral meter for measuring the value of persons is barely activated by anything other than performance that contributes to the welfare of another. This connects with his drive to take care of people, a drive expressed in his medical practice. As a physician he cared for thousands of infants, conscientiously, skillfully. But the primary value of this care is what it said about Dad's importance, not the benefit the child received.

This is a tragic narrowing of moral awareness. It prompted me to ask myself the question: What makes a person worth something?

Certainly, when someone engages in service others that act is valuable. Of course. The Bible speaks of people as the children of God. God values them because they are God's children exist, apart from any accomplishment or service.

Human care for one another is valuable. Human creativity is valuable. Human labor is valuable. Human worship is valuable. Yes. Yes. Yes. But there is a fundamental value carried by every human because that human is a child of God.

Another way to speak of this is that every human has value through relationships. We cannot assess the value of a human person by carefully examining the individual in isolation. Putting a human individual under a microscope cannot bring his/her highest value into view.

What makes Dad worth something? He is a dad. He is a son (of God and a father and mother). He is a brother, friend, patient, neighbor. It is Dad's relational situation that creates and reveals his highest value. Part of the reason Dad feels worthless is that most of these relationships have been interrupted by death. His parents, siblings, wife, most of his long-time neighbors and friends are gone. It is for us, his children, to see his value and to act in light of his value, even if he himself has become blind to it.