Value Of Human Life Essay

People argue about the value of a human life almost everyday whether it be divided equally or distributed amongst others by different means. The government began to allocate money to attempt to compensate for the death of the 9/11 victims. This enraged many families due to their dead family members lives being only worth a few thousand dollars. The value of a human life remains as a highly controversial topic for which the government should allocate money equally to victims, because lives are not something you can put a value on.

In “What Is The Value Of A Human Life?” Kenneth Feinberg is placed in charge of developing a system to allocate money to the victims of the tragedy on September 11th.

Feinberg “[l]ast year… was again asked to design and administer a

Feinberg is at war with himself. He wants to give an equal amount to the victim’s families, but as a lawyer should not do. This war with himself allows us to see that Feinberg really wants to allocate the money equally but is a man of the government.

At one of the talks with the victims families’ Feinberg was asked “ [M]y husband was a fireman and died a hero at the World Trade Center. Why are you giving me less money than the banker who represented Enron? Why are you demeaning the memory of my husband” butterstick153 - English 10H - A2D1. Page 1 of 2

Kenneth explanation that he was only “basing [his] decision on law, just as juries did everyday...fell on deaf ears. Grieving families couldn’t hear it. And I didn’t believe it myself.”

Feinberg sees that the value of life is something very high and something that is very hard to replace. The compensation for a life should be equal as said by Feinberg. Each victim’s families should be given the same amount for their death. He “found the law in conflict with [his] growing belief in the equality of all life. Feinberg’s belief in equality for life is why the government should distribute money equally to victims of a