What is Value???

I had an interesting conversation with a friend about self-worth. She talked about getting to a place where she no longer sees herself as her body. That is just the vehicle that allows her to exsist on this planet, but has nothing to do with her value as a person. That struck me as a very healthy perspective. It reminds me of the analogy of the hundred dollar bill. The story goes something like this:

A public speaker holds up a hundred dollar bill and asks the audience "Who would like this hundred dollar bill?" Everyone's hand goes up. So he crumples up the hundred dollar bill and asks the same question again. Of course, everyone's hand still goes up. Then he steps on the hundred dollar bill and grinds it into the floor. Again he asks "Who would like this hundred dollar bill?" Everyone's hand still goes up. His point is that the value of that hundred dollar bill has nothing to do with its appearance. It has a certain innate value by virtue of being a hundred dollar bill.

I was contemplating that story and wondered how it would change if that public speaker had said; "This exact hundred dollar bill was used to purchase a gun that was then used to kill a mother and her small children! Who would like to have this hundred dollar bill?" Something tells me there would be few if any takers. Suddenly that hundred dollar bill doesn't seem quite so valuable.

I'll be the first to admit that my ego takes control more often than not. I tend to judge myself and others by appearance. I equate value based on appearance. But something tells me that my perspective is skewed. Something tells me that value has much more to do with how we affect the lives of others and much less to do with our appearance.