WTC Victims: What's A Life Worth?

The memorable speech by Steve Jobs entitled “How to Live before you die” inspire us to always pursue our dreams and never give up in everything we do despite we have to get through many awful challenges. He tells three inspirational stories of his own lives that could have made him to give up in life but instead; he used the challenges as stepping stoles for him to be more successful in his live. Steve’s first story really teaches us the value of determination. After he decided to drop out from Reed Collage, he continue to educate himself by going to classes that he really interest him and because of that he was able to create his own computer that is widely used nowadays which is Mac. The second story is about how he was fired from his own

In one article, What Is A Life Worth? by Amanda Ripley, it speaks about the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and how the attacks led to the development of the human life calculator. It calculates how much your life is worth, based on how much you make and would have continued to make if they had lived. “Every award will be based on a cold calculus, much the way courts handle wrongful-death claims” (Ripley 5). The calculator does not take into account the worth of a person's life, regardless of how much they make. The family members,friends, and lovers of those lost deserve to know that their loved one matters and was more than just a set number. These events changed the course of their lives forever. Many fought the government, saying that they felt their loved one was worth more than what was said and that that should be taken into account.

Should people put the value of life into monetary value or should life be kept solely as an emotional quantity? People and societies throughout the ages have been trying to answer the problem of putting the value of life into terms of dollar bills. The ancient Egyptians buried their dead with all of their worldly belongings. They believed a person’s monetary worth on Earth was over, and they should take all of that earthly worth with them to the afterlife. Modern day Americans are different from the Egyptians. Today people believe that the families of the dead should be compensated for “their” loss.

Should we as a society set a monetary value on life, or let it exist on an emotional level? Are the accomplishments we achieve and the money we make throughout our lifetime the only things that determine what our life is worth after death; or should it be based on the value that the individual put upon their own experiences. In contemporary American Society, this question remains to be asked when someone loses their life. In the excerpt from Chris Jones’ “Roger Ebert: The Essential Man” The struggles which Ebert Endures, and the high value he remained to keep on his own life was revealed, which displayed his own personal value of life and how it is precious throughout the conflict. I agree with this mentality completely, because one’s circumstances may outweigh another’s, meaning that there is

Life, the existence of an individual human being. All humans have the desire to “exist” as one would say, to become influential in this world. But is it not possible to exist once one is gone? Famous film director Alfred Hitchcock argues that characters are more important dead than alive. In this life, in order to become important or even cared about, one must die. Death has become the key to success because everyone misses those who are gone. Literary work such as Macbeth, A Lesson Before Dying, Are You Worth More Dead Than Alive? and, How the King of Pop Made 1.5 Million, have proven that not only characters but humans hold more value once they are dead.

When a loved one dies, it feels like the end of your world. No apology could fix it. However, I believe that even the most sincere acts of sympathy and grief towards the victim(s) would show more respect than trying to put a price value on those who suffered. Amanda Ripley, author of WTC Victims: What’s A Life Worth?, writes about what the government planned to do to compensate for family losses. According to the article, Kenneth Feinberg, who is responsible for dispersing money to the ones that were increasingly affected by the attacks, without shame went into detail of how one can figure out how much the government is willing to pay. In the end, most people’s total compensation were either near or at zero. Many family members were appalled and a woman by the name of Maureen Halvorson even said,“I just can't accept the fact that the Federal Government is saying my husband and my brother are worth nothing.” It would have been more gratifying to those experiencing mass grief if the government simply sent out messages of deep condolence rather than try to put a zero next to the victim’s name.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life” (253). The man who changed the world of technology said this in front of thousands of Stanford graduates. All of the interesting work and his life was written in a biography called Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal. Blumenthal included everything about Jobs from birth to death in this book. The title of the book came from Apple advertisements that said “Think Different.” The main character of the book was obviously Steve Jobs. Jobs was the co-founder of Apple Inc., NeXT, and Pixar and he was able to do all that because he was the man who thought different. Anyone who owns an Apple product or has seen many of the famous movies

A person’s worth should not be defined by one’s financial assets. Through the words of author Amanda Ripley in “What is a life Worth?” the reader is introduced to the concept of determining life’s abstract value into actual dollars

Life means a constant change in various fields of living standards. These changes can be both positive and negative; they are not repeated, but in essence have something in common. If one take this to the attention and develop a strategy for the future, positive changes can be supported and developed, while negative changes can be reduced and prevented in the future.

Steven Jobs was an entrepreneur who wanted to bring power to the people. He had many experiences to motivate his creativity and drive to create a better place. He grew up experiencing different places and life altering changes that helped him find a purpose in life, and this was to revolutionize the world through technology. Steven Jobs travelled to a few different states in the US allowing him to meet different people. Some of these connections lasted a lifetime and had a lot to offer. These connections were relationships, friends, loved ones, and business partners that helped him achieve his goal. Steve also travelled to India and studied abroad for his spirituality; looking for a purpose. There is no reason to doubt that Steve found his purpose in life. When Jobs came back to the United States, he created Apple and it developed into a tool to realize his dreams. Steve Jobs went through many ups and downs throughout his career, but he never stopped giving to the world.

On his commencement speech to Stanford students on June 12, 2005, Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple computers and PIXAR animations, used carefully crafted inspirational anecdotes and rhetorical devices like ethos and pathos to move his audience to explore, follow their dream and do what they love no matter the odds.

“You’ve got to find what you love,” I completely agree with Steve Jobs. Everyone searches for happiness and what they live for. He had gone through a lot to figure out what he loved. Steve’s three stories were very influencing. To be young and having to figure out what to do with his future and to make a living, was it worth it for him to do what he loves? He made me think that it was worth it in the end. Steve went through hard times, but ultimately he lived a very successful life. Steve had chosen a college that was not fairly cheap. He chose that school and did not even like attending it. His parents strived to even let him afford to go to college. Eventually he dropped out. He was making his parents happy for going, but he was not

Lastly, Jobs describes his life philosophy, saying “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life,” meaning that he would live his life doing what he likes, not what others like. Jobs impresses and convinces the audience through logic, pulling them in. This allows the graduates to be inspired to take ahold of life.

I believe value is something only an individual can assign to their own life based on experience and significance. A life is’t an object you can place a price on, it’s a complex network full of experiences good and bad shared with others. Everyone on this planet has value not just to themselves but to others as well but that value is higher than any amount of money existing. Everyones life has an effect on the people around them. If you were to die tomorrow everyones life in your network of family and friends would change

Life as we know it could vanish within seconds. The next day is not promised to anyone that walks on this earth. As we live our everyday lives peacefully, we tend not to think what our mission or purpose in life is. Instead, we think what we must do for that to be a “successful” person. Despite this way of thinking, just think for a second. What makes life meaningful? What is life anyway? These questions dive right into the heart of the philosophical, psychological, and the biological aspects of life and what the true meaning of life is. This is a very arguable topic due to every person’s different perspective on life and what it means to them. In summary, I personally think that life is simply what you make of it and each person’s accomplishments has its own merit