Value V Worth (Ins and Outs)
My neighbor and I have been discussing, at length, the difference between value and worth. Over the last few weeks, He has verbally stated the thought as haunting him. When we see each other, the topic produces a confusion when items have value and no worth and when there is worth and no value. When we looked up the word, it’s basically the same thing. Therefore, the first thing we needed to do was define our interpretation of the words. If he says green and I say red, the only one that will agree with both are most likely color blind or don’t understand what the question is. While reviewing the definitions, there is statements easy decipher about value as a verb and worth is a noun. Or value is recognized as importance and worth is cost of production. It’s a bit easier to finally break the two words down into separate ideas of monetary worth and internal value.
The value like in intrinsic value is an intra-personal thing. It’s the thought and actions imposed by self without interaction of outsiders or others. Worth like in net worth is more inter-personal or between people. So, you can take thoughts and skill you value internally, perform the action for another person and turn it into something of worth. Value is the thoughts and actions on behalf of self, while worth is thoughts and actions behalf of others.
When it’s with yourself, a thought is not worth anything until it is acted upon. It’s intra-personal. Once it is acted upon, there is inter-person opportunity.
Maybe this makes sense. But trust me that we have had numerous talks and I still confused value and worth. Like self-worth is value, but valuable things may have worth. It’s murky at best, but that is not what I want to worry about. It’s what you do with your values and how you share them that drive worth.
· Worth and no value
o Buy a book and never read it. You spent money and did nothing with it. Having a book is valueless until you start to introduce new thought. New thoughts and perspective add value because you now have more data and options.
· Value and no worth
o Read the book, provoke new thought, never act upon it. Ever learn something new to immediately forget it. (This was college for me. Pass the test. Never think about it again.)
· Worth and value
o Read the book and proceed to make actions. You start to share the data and give other a chance to add value to themselves. This is when worth can bloom. People may pay to hear you speak about something you value. You may even take the lessons and do something to evoke worth.
· No value and no worth
o Skip the book completely. Don’t challenge any new thoughts or actions.
There is still plenty to discuss about the topic. My neighbor and I continue to play devil’s advocate to assess the idea. The discussion has no worth, but there is value in the discussion to learn more about something. The short goal is to see if we can break the other’s logic. Now, some people may assume that this is an attack or triggering, but we see it as a test of critical thinking and being open to understanding “outside the box” ideas or how others process. Even my example listed before might be flawed or he makes another example to disproves mine. It’s fun to try to think like someone else. We all have great abilities or knowledge. Be willing to share it and have it picked apart, then still be accepting. You don’t have to approve, but you can accept other’s thoughts and actions. You are not them and vice versa.
Side note: I have been thinking about hope and faith. I’m starting to see it as the same thing; however, faith includes direction of a deity. Care to openly discuss?
