Great Value

Today over the Bass Strait, one of my favourite bloggers, Farmdoc, has been musing about the value of things:

The true value of something is often out of proportion to its perceived everyday value. In other words, it’s often the little things that have the biggest impact.

I agree with him wholeheartedly. (And not just because he's my dad.)

I also wholeheartedly believe that we in the privileged West have no real understanding of what "perceived everyday value" really means. Myself included.

So removed are we from what's most important in our lives, that when we see the words Great Value, we immediately assume they are referring to a bargain.

As one of our household's heroes, George Monbiot wrote yesterday in The Guardian:

If the world is sliding into recession, it's partly because governments believed that they could choose between economy and ecology.

It's true PJ and I are on our way to becoming self-sustaining, but still we have been stressed lately about our personal finances in the face of rising interest rates, our council rates that are now the third highest in the state, water rates increasing by 25%, petrol prices, blah blah blah.

I say, bring on the crash, and let's start again.

Only after we have been forced to redefine the merit of our principles, will we be reminded of what's of real value in our lives and what's not.