USA – Part 5 - The Value of Life

This post by any standards is not to say that USA is better than India or vice versa. Each human being is a blend of good and evil things and this goes same with each country. And, there is nothing wrong in admitting things that our own country lacks. It’s just a way to acknowledge that there are things that can be straightened to make our country a better place to live.

One starkling difference that I have noticed is the value of life out here in US. In India, one mostly gets the kind of respect or look from the society depending on the kind of work he/she does. For instance, if you are a rag picker, you’ll always find yourself being looked down upon. So is the case with numerous professions like waiters, peons, security guards, etc. But if you think of it, they are important part of maintain the balance within the society. Without them being functional, life would surely come to a standstill. Imagine the plight of a residential area where the rag picker doesn’t turn up to clear a pile of garbage. So when they are such important to the society to function properly, how can their life not be of any value?

One of the reasons of the success of US is that it doesn’t look any job with negativity or think inferior of it. Last week I had to substitute for one of my colleagues out here, who was on his annual vacation, for a tire inspection program. I was amazed to see the bunch of guys with over 25-30 years of experience enjoying inspecting used worn out tires to check for the kind of irregularities. And, they do this tirelessly every month. I doubt how many of us would even bother to bend down to check if the tires in our car are inflated.

You might be a CEO, you might be a salesperson or you might be a ragpicker; you need to yourself fill up the gas in your car; fill up the air in the tires! I feel such small things go a long way to shape up a person’s outlook towards other profession. And when one stops discriminating based on the profession the other person is involved in, one starts valuing the other person’s life. That is what you see out here in US and I think it is essential to have that approach for any country.