2.04.2013

Allow me

Socrato:  It's not that safety itself has a value but it does produce value.  In fact, it produces measurable value in the form of spending money.

Rockamellon: Again, I can not fault your logic, Socrato.  Please continue.

Socrato:  I do not want to launch into a monologue, my friend.  Perhaps you can try again to name something that has value but is not monetized.

Rockamellon:  The family has great value to all people and surely no one can put a price on a sense of family.

Socrato:  Can't they though?  I have just seen the other day the price of raising a child, side by side with the amount that can be saved by pooling your monetary resources with a life partner.  Surely these are ways of monetizing family, yes?

Rockamellon:  Inded, they do seem to be.

Socrato:  Why do you hesitate, friend?  Are these not ways of ascribing dollar values to the idea of family?

Rockamellon:  I hesitate because I think there is something more to it than that.

Socrato:  Then listen to your hesitation.  What more do you think there is to family?

Rockamellon:  Well, there is cooperation.  Family members help one another - support each other through the trials of life.

Socrato:  Yes, of course.  The parents pay for the children's food and clothing as they grow up then the children turn around and pay for their parent's care in their twilight years.

Rockamellon:  Again, you've assigned it all a monetary value.  What about family members simply helping one another without charge?  What about the loyal daughter who takes care of her aging mother?

Socrato:  Is not labor a quintessentially marketable item?  Time is money, as they say.

Rockamellon:  You may make it so I can be a heartless businessman after all, my dear Socrato.

Socrato:  If that is the way the logic leads us, then let it be so.

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