True Value

Like the name of the popular retail establishment, true value is understood to mean quality -- the best, above average. Oscar Wilde once said "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." What do we really know of value? Awakening each morning to the natural music of birds, seeing the look of wonder and delight on a child's face who touches the nose of a calf for the first time, watching the seasons change from a window of your home, understanding the life patterns of this earth and its inhabitants, and that all of us have a place in that cycle. We have done absolutely nothing except be born to deserve all this, and we need do nothing but grow mindful to appreciate it. It can be difficult to remind ourselves of this quiet essence of all that lives. Some are such masters of growing things -- it seems that these artists of the earth could plant an umbrella and in due time find little umbrellas growing. Beautiful, nourishing gardens, flowering shrubs, fruit trees, blooms of all descriptions are creativity in its purest form. Though paintings are wonderful and art of all kinds translates into languages understandable to all, the creation of living plants which in turn sustain our lives is essential, actual value. It is no accident that many beautiful words have been written in gardens, or that descriptions of the earth and nature, that creation of the master artist, are so plentiful. Somewhere among all that we possess is the truest of all gifts -- we need not even consider price -- it is ours. Mathematical symbols denoting quantity, or for assessing cost are useful for transferring goods and services . . . let us never confuse price with true value.