In today’s world, there are many things that are called “valuable.” Some people call their stock portfolio valuable, some their TV. Others may say that their house or car is truly valuable. But what most people find value in lies in what others think is valuable. In other words, if society deems it of value, then so do they!
Take a look at modern advertising. See how the beautiful model calls that wonderful product amazing! Watch their abs or breasts as the tout the great benefits this or that can give you. Hear how the TV pundit says this stock or that stock is really going to rise in value because of X, Y or Z. As a society we are cowed into thinking what the rest are thinking!
I’m not immune. I look at TV and think, Hmmph, maybe the ShamWOW is really a great product! I will sit and look at the attractive model show the great benefits. I was really caught today when I entered a house today and looked around. There were some items of substance, but most was for show. There was the great hardwood flooring, the nice curtains, and the beautiful granite in the kitchen. But the furniture was particle board, the knives were cheap serrated steel you buy at k-mart, and the miter joints in the molding didn’t join.
It was obvious to me that the owner cared more about show than real value!
I grew up not far from a fantastic Menonite community in south west Ohio. Those people are slowly dying out for their own reasons, but their work ethic was purely artistic! Go and look at an Amish or Menonite table, and you will appreciate the joinery, the hand-carved wood, the planed boards. They took time and care, and a great deal of effort to create a product that would last generations! Our society as a whole has gone backward from that ethic to, god I’m going to say it, a disposable society!
For me, it’s rather practical. As my partner, Farmer John tried to point out to me, it’s about quality, not quantity. You see, early in our relationship, we went shopping for sheets. Come on, what couple hasn’t tried in vain to find the perfect sheet set to sleep upon? You’re laughing, I know because it’s a totally common thread with couples! And it’s the thread that we argued about! “One THOUSAND threadcount!,” I laughed! I thought he was living too high on the hog! Wow, I couldn’t afford that, but jeez if he could…
Well, it turns out that Farmer John was right-on in his ideas! Whereas I was concerned about keeping my sheet set to under $50, he was more concerned about keeping his sheet set for more than a year. You see, if you wash, dry and use a sheet set that’s only 100 count often enough…it rips! It makes FANTASTIC rags, but I didn’t want to buy $50 rags! But if you spend $100 on a sheet set, and it lasts you 20 years…well, there’s your value!
Same thing with about everything I buy today. If I really think about it, with a serious purchase, I try and consider if this item is naturally going to degrade, and I’ll be forced to buy another in a year, or is there a better, possibly more expensive option that I will have for a generation!
We have salvaged ruined scrap metal that today is a very active and loved member of our family in the form of garden tools. There was a close neighbor who passed away and his property got flooded. The family thought there was no value in the tools this man lovingly used, abused, and cared for many years. They saw a shovel with an outdated wooden handle, and a rusted shovel head. We saw a beautiful treasure waiting to be un-rusted (like how Michangelo said he saw the sculpture within the block of marble). We took a wire brush and scoured the rust off, oiled the tool, and didn’t pay a cent for it except for a bit of sweat.
Now that’s value to me.