Thoughts for Today: Sunday, January 31, 2016 : All Lives Matter, But Are All Lives Valued (Equally)?

Thoughts for Today Sunday January 31, 2016: All Lives Matter, But Are All Lives Valued (Equally)?

Black Lives Matter. It is a movement and statement that was borne from the death of Trayvon Martin at the hands of George Zimmerman. The point of the Black Lives Matter movement is to bring awareness to the fact that blacks aren't treated fairly, whether it's by law enforcement or the justice department, the education system or society as a whole. But, that point has been lost on society as a whole, with some saying that white lives matter, law enforcement lives matter, all lives matter.

Okay. Let's go with the All Lives Matter statement. Do all lives matter? Yes. I'm not one to dispute that. But, what many may not ask or wonder about is, are ALL LIVES VALUED? More importantly, are they valued EQUALLY?

Value is defined as (noun): the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something; a person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life (Google); relative worth, utility, or importance (Merriam-Webster); (verb): consider (someone or something) to be important or beneficial; have a high opinion of. (Google). That's deep. Everyone and everything has value, even if we may not understand it. 

What do we, as individuals, value? What do we, collectively, value? Are we too capitalistic, to where we only care about maintaining social status, or not sociable and approachable enough when it comes to the poor, disabled, elderly, and veterans? Do we place more emphasis on religious rights or personal relationship? Are we willing to look at what makes us great diversely, or are we going to continue doing the same song and dance with living in bigotry, misogyny, and xenophobia?

Given that there's still so much hostility towards minorities, particularly brown and black people, and towards women's health rights, do ALL lives matter? Given that we ask veterans to fight for us, but they come back and we do not take care of them, do ALL lives matter? Given that the United States is one of the richest nations in the world, yet so many live well below the poverty line, even working 2-3 jobs and being single, do ALL lives matter? All lives may matter. But, are they valued EQUALLY?  

References:

Value (2016): 

https://www.google.com/search?q=definition+of+value&oq=&gs_l=mobile-heirloom-serp.1.0.41l3.0.0.0.4994.1.0.0.1.1.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..34.mobile-heirloom-serp..0.1.86.dquklwwTKFQ

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/value, accessed January 31, 2016 

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