An interview on Al Jazeera News yesterday morning caught my attention and made me think. On the news was a Palestinian young woman passionately speaking about her father who was in an Israeli prison for a minor offence. The woman worried about her father’s health and said he had such serious heart problems that he could fall dead anytime, and without proper medical care his condition was becoming more precarious with each passing day. The woman kept on speaking about her dad and the Palestinian problem.
Towards the end of the conversation the Al Jazeera anchor had his head down and eyes focused on the desk. Then suddenly he looked up towards the camera so as to see her directly. The anchor abruptly cut the conversation while the woman was speaking, thanking her for explaining her father’s situation. The embarrassed woman politely smiled and thanked him in return, and while she disappeared from the scene, the anchor showing no emotion moved to the next subject.
This shocking episode made me ask the same question I often ask in different situations: What is the meaning and value of human life?
In connection with the impulses I felt from watching the News it seemed to me that life had meaning and value only within relationships. We are of active value to people when we have something to offer. As soon as that something of value has passed its time or expended its worth, the relationship comes to an end. This is how at least the mercantile world operates. And it helps us find our place in the world and expend our skills and talents for just remuneration so that we may live our lives responsibly and satisfactorily.
But there are other relationships that make life rooted in a much deeper sense of meaning and value that goes beyond mercantile exchange. And this is where love, care, and a durable connectedness come in. The news anchor displayed the former type of relationship, but in her love for her father, the young woman witnessed to the latter deeper kind.
The young man’s commitment to his job made life fulfilling because it gave him a good standard of living. To love her father and fight for his life and freedom, the young woman was not paid by anyone. Instead, with the passing of time, and her obsessive preoccupation, she was dangerously wasting herself away. Yet the passion in her seemed to me to excel that which was displayed by the professional. It came from her heart, and she did it selflessly.
What then makes us most human and gives us the highest sense of meaning and value? It most definitely is in finding love and care within a network of close relationships; relationships that do not function on the basis of a mercantile exchange and are not self-centered; relationships that are built not on wealth, status, skills, talents, and other material entities, but on those optimal virtues humans are capable of.
Life is a journey, and the people who are with us on that journey sharing life with us are the ones who make our lives most meaningful and valuable.
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