Amanda Ripley's What Is A Life Worth

846 Words2 Pages

Human life is a precious gift to people, yet many people have different opinions on how life should be valued. Some people think that life is more of a curse, because their life is difficult, and they do not value it as much. In many famous articles and books, the vale of life is considered, such as Hamlet’s soliloquy. Hamlet did not think about life as valuable and contemplated suicide. Life is valuable, even if people do not think of it, and people should try and live it to the best of their ability.
It seems that more people value life and want to try to get the best out of their experience. An example is Roger Ebert, the movie critic, because he had many problems in life but at the end, he was happy with himself and told people to try …show more content…

During the September 11 attacks, many of the victims’ families received huge sums of money from the government for their losses. Many people did not think that it was that fair, because they got money no questions asked. People lose loved ones everyday and do not get all of that kind of money right away. In the article, “What Is a Life Worth?” by Amanda Ripley, the author quotes, “Note that lifetime earnings have been boosted by a flat $250,000 for ‘pain and suffering’ [...] Tack on an extra $50,000 in pain and suffering for a spouse and for each child,” (Paragraph 7). Since people lost people in the 9/11 attacks, they received a lot of money with no questions. The amount they got was based on their age, how far away from retirement they were, their income, and the amount of insurance they had on their life. Putting a money value on life is immoral, because life has a lot more to it than just making money. When people put a dollar value on a human life, they are not thinking about all of the good things they have done in the world, just how much they cost. Life has more value than money and no one should put a price onto

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