What do you measure?

You get what you measure... so let us ask, “How do we measure human worth?”

Today we live in a world where dignity has quite wrongly been linked to material wealth. No matter how learned a man or woman may be, or how kind or truthful or trustworthy, if they are not wealthy, they are treated with disdain. Net worth has only one meaning. And I can't think of a more dishonorable meaning; to equate a person to the amount of money in his pocket. HNI; what if it meant Person with the best character? Instead of Person with the most money, no matter how he earned it and no matter what his character is like. Not to say that all rich people are evil. They aren’t. I am talking about what we measure which shows what we truly value. If we measured character, truthfulness, kindness, compassion, courage, dignity, concern for the underprivileged, the weak, elderly, poor, sick; then that is how we would define ourselves. High Net worth Individual would mean the kindest, most truthful, most compassionate, most courageous person in that society. We wouldn’t glorify ostentation, waste, self-centered consumption, cruelty, oppression. We would call Aristotle, ‘The Great’, instead of Alexander, whose only claim to fame was that he left Macedonia to rape, plunder and loot his way across a million square miles of others’ homes and societies. Who we glorify and celebrate, tells a much bigger story about who we are than about who they were.

Ask, what would the implications of living in such a society be on people's happiness and self-worth. Real self-worth, not pretensions to it. I believe this is something to think about.

If we applied today's standard of HNI - High Net worth Individual to some of the well-known names in our past, how would people like Hillel and Shammai, Al Ghazali, Al Biruni, Ibn Sinna, Abu Hanifa, Ahmad bin Hanbal, Jalauddin Rumi and so many sages and scholars of so many traditions, look? How would you judge the Net worth of Aristotle, Epictetus, Plato, or even the prophets like Moses, Abraham, and perhaps most of all Jesus (Peace be on them all) - about whom Muhammad (Peace be on him) said, ‘The sky was his roof and the earth his bed.’ Today he would probably be in a homeless shelter after having been arrested for sleeping on a park bench and taken there by the police.

Conversely if we applied an ethical and moral standard to decide who was an HNI and who wasn’t, how would Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and the many billionaires in different countries, look? Especially if you consider the fact that the poorest countries in the world today seem to have the highest number of billionaires. Many of them live in high-rise palaces with their feet grounded in the misery and squalor of the daily lives of the poor. Not ashamed, not troubled, not even giving it a second thought as they go about trying to outdo each other in a vulgar display of wealth; not by competing in charity but in wastage and excess.

Rabbi Elazar said: The reward for charity is paid from Heaven only in accordance with the kindness and generosity included therein and in accordance with the effort and the consideration that went into the giving. It is not merely in accordance with the sum of money, as it is stated: “Sow to yourselves according to charity and reap according to kindness.”

I am not against wealth. I am against giving it precedence over honor, truthfulness and integrity. After all, if we do that, then what’s wrong with drug dealing, stealing, bribing, human trafficking and a plethora of ways to make money? It is only truthfulness, the sense of right and wrong, virtue and sin that is the demarcating line between what is honorable and what is not. Al Capone was an entrepreneur, wasn’t he? So are Elon Musk and Bill Gates. Is there a difference? Who would you like to be? If I break my word once, then what value does my promise have in the future? It takes a lifetime to build trust but to destroy it, all it takes is one instant. Take an expensive crystal vase and drop it on a stone floor. As it shatters into a thousand pieces, you will perhaps understand what I mean by keeping and breaking promises. Can it be put back if you are able to collect all the pieces? Perhaps it can. But it will never be the same. You will always be able to see the fault lines. Another simple way to understand this is to ask yourself this question, ‘Who would I rather deal with? A person who keeps his word or one who is likely to betray it if it suits him?’ We tell the world who we are. Or more accurately about how we choose to define ourselves. The world merely agrees.

As Mikel Harry of 6 Sigma fame said, ‘If you want to see what people value, see what they measure.’ Let us ask ourselves, what do we measure? Not just pay lip service to. But measure because we value it.

I have been saying this for over 25 years that the three biggest crimes committed on society were the commercialization of education, healthcare, and justice. When money became the prime motivator of these three things, society sold its soul to Mammon. I do a little test with all kinds of youth audiences. Try it and I hope you will have a different result. Ask them to name three role models, in order of priority. Then see who they name. In my case, every single time I asked this question, I have had the same answer. Three billionaires, who are most of the time, three white men. I ask them why they didn’t name at least one teacher, priest, musician, artist, physician or surgeon, philosopher, bus driver, street cleaner, whoever? Why only billionaires living lifestyles that they and their entire clans can't afford in ten lifetimes? The answer is that we get a vicarious thrill from talking about money and material assets. It is like masturbation. It gives you the sensation without any result. But if you are happy with the sensation, then who cares about the result?

Money is one of the results of good work. I say one, because there are many others too. But to value only things that can be sold is to sell our humanity itself. We are human not because of how much money we make but because of how we make it and what we do with it. Money, as we all know, can be made in ways that are very unwholesome and spent in ostentatious ways that are harmful. But when we make the possession of money alone as the thing that adds value and effectively devalue all those people who have added enormous value to us humans, and value only people who are known for their net worth or super yachts, we help to create the morally bankrupt society that we live in today. We are responsible. We created it and only we can change it.

The question is what can we do to change this? I know we are talking long term here - maybe generational change - but it must start some time. That is why I am convinced that it must start with Primary schools - build in the reading habit. Change the way we teach from telling, to asking questions and letting them discover the answers. From teaching facts to teaching tools to reach facts. From convincing to allowing them to convince you. All these things stretch the mind and encourage questioning. That is what we need above all else - people who will ask questions. Especially uncomfortable and painful questions. I am aware of a huge sense of urgency about what lies ahead. The work is cut out for those who have the courage to accept it.