What's important to a person is directly connected to what their values are. That statement was given last time, and explained in the form of Michael Rosenfeld. Michael Rosenfeld, as you may recall, was a person with no values, or at least with very few. Today, I will contrast him by describing a person who values everything, and what kind of life they might lead.

    In my personal opinion, I would think that there are more people like Michael Rosenfeld, then are those who value everything. At least, in the world today. Perhaps, in the 60's, or in another era or place where every little thing is important, there might be more of those types of people who value each and every thing.

    But, now is the time to describe it in more detail...

    And for those who are wondering what the point of all of this is, believe me when I say that I do have a point, as will be seen in the coming chapters.

    Let me now explain the life of Marsha McKinley from Vancouver, British Columbia. The name and location are meaningless, except that I've chosen to use a female now as my example. Once again, let me state for the record that I don't know of any Marsha McKinley, nor do I know of any people who act like she does, but if she does exist and she does exhibit a similar life pattern, then there is no connection between her and what I'm writing here.

    Marsha McKinley was born to two very loving parents. They cared for her, and nutured her, and she became very attached to them. Even as an infant, she learned to value them. When she cried for her bottle or to be changed, it was not just because of a reflex or because of a need to be cared for. It was because she genuinely understood her parents' value and took advantage of it.

    As she grew to some semblance of self-awareness, she began to exhibit greater signs of valuing, even depending, on her parents. When she was put down, she was only happy when her parents were nearby, but when they went away, she would get very upset. She wouldn't stay upset, however, because she eventually learned to value her alone time as well. She valued her crib and her bottle too, and got extremely upset when they were switched over to a bed and cup. But, in time, she learned to value those things as well. She found the transition to her first day of school very stressful indeed, because she valued being at home. But, in time, she learned to value school, because she knew that she would be able to return home soon. And, as she began to make friends, she valued them too.

    With every year that passed, she got very upset, because she valued the year previously. She valued the work she did in the previous grades, and the time she spent doing the work. Along this time, she began to accumulate many things. Old baby teeth, birthday cards, and everything that she'd ever done. She valued them too much to ever get rid of them. So, needless to say, her room was a packed-up mess.

    When she finally grew up enough to get her first boyfriend, she immediately grew very attached to him, and began to depend on him. However, young boys very rarely show much tenderness, so they soon broke up. Marsha was extremely upset and didn't know how she could continue. She had valued the boy, and felt a very great sense of loss at his departure from her life. She felt that way about every boyfriend she ever had, always sinking into a depression for weeks or months after they broke up. As a result, her school marks were very poor. Her bad attitude caused her to lose a lot of friends, who she also valued, of course, and this made her more upset. She didn't think about suicide, however, because she valued life too much. Eventually, though, things evened out for her. She made more friends, and managed to find a boyfriend who she kept long-term. Eventually, she even got her driver's license, because she valued studying for the test and getting it. She found work too, and did very well at it, because she valued her job, only lapsing when something else that she valued was lost or damaged.

    When she got her first car, she was very careful with it, valuing it beyond everything else, so when some jackass hit her from behind and damaged it, she got very upset and depressed once again. Her boyfriend, however, was very supportive and she, of course, valued the attention he gave her.

    Eventually, somehow, she got married and had children. She decided to quit whatever job she had at the time, because she valued her family and wanted to stay home to raise the kids.

    Speaking of family, she was also very close with her parents, still, because she valued them. And, when they eventually passed away, she was extremely miserable and spent months being depressed. Her parents were the first thing that she valued, so they were the most important thing to her. Her husband got very tired of his wife's constant mood swings, though, and they eventually got divorced. Marsha was, again, very, very upset, because she was losing something else that she valued highly. Then again, she still had her children, somehow.

    They grew up in time, though, and left her, and she was miserable to see them go. By this time, though, she was caught up in every single war or disaster in the world, because she valued life and the human race, and soon she died, driven insane by all of her values.

    So...that may be a somewhat bleak view of Marsha McKinley's life, and of the life of anybody who values everything. Now, to clarify, perhaps I may confuse "valuing something" with "being dependant" on something, but not to a very great extent.

    The point of the previous two chapters that I wanted to make, in order to start off this dissertation, is that valuing something is very important, but one must remember not to overvalue things, or undervalue things. In the next chapter...I don't know what I'll do, but we'll see.

    For now, I leave you with these questions:

    1) Do you know anybody like Marsha, who seems to value everything?
    2) Is it neccesarily the case that someone who overvalues things would be driven insane?
    3) Could, perhaps, the very meaning of life be, in fact, to value everything?
    4) How do you feel that values are formed?
    5) Are there certain things that would be wrong to value? Why?
    6) How do people tend to develop the majority of their values?