Should people translate the value of life into a monetary value or should life be viewed solely as an emotional quantity? People and societies over the centuries have tried to answer the problem of expressing the value of life in terms of dollar bills. The ancient Egyptians buried their dead with all their worldly possessions. They believed that a person's monetary value on Earth was finite and that they would have to carry all that earthly value with them into the afterlife. Modern Americans are different from Egyptians. Today people believe that the families of the dead should be compensated for "their" loss. It is true that life is a precious commodity, just like a diamond. But unlike a diamond, life does not have a fixed monetary value. But today's government is trying to change the situation. After the tragedies of September 11, 2002, the federal government started a federal fund to help victims and families of victims of the attacks. This fund would give priority to people injured in the attacks, then to spouses and then to parents. Sounds great, right? Your husband dies and now you have just lost your income and the government will pay you for your loss. Well, don't jump on the bandwagon so quickly now. It might seem great now, but once you get immersed in the program, it won't be as fun. To understand how much money a person will receive from this fund is determined by a multi-step process. They first calculate how much an individual would have earned if there had been no attacks. This would mean that the family of a banker would earn much more than the family of an apartment building custodian. Is it true that a banker is worth more to society than a custodian? Is a lawyer more important than an employee? So the fund adds $250,000 as b...... middle of paper ...... and similar in rarity and beauty, but are different in that the gems have a fixed monetary value, but life is much more more gorgeous than any gem on Earth. This is why life does not have a monetary value and never should. Works Cited Armstrong, Lance and Sally Jenkins. It's not about the bike: my journey back to life. New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. Deng, Alephonsion. “I had to learn to live in peace.” Newsweek October 31, 2005: 16.King, Jr., Martin Luther. "I have a dream." Mephis Educational Computer Connectivity Alliance. 21/11/05. http://www.mecca.org/~crights/dream.html.Ripley, Amanda. “What value does life have?” Time December 2002: 12-13.Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992.Unknown, human life value calculator. Life and Education Insurance Foundation. November 14, 2005 http://www.life-line.org/life_human.html.