What is a life worth to you?
Have we ever considered that a human life in “the Western countries” is worth less than in Poland? And that is not only literally, but also figuratively. We see it around us every day. We saw a simple example last week when someone’s lovely pet died. When that happens in the Netherlands, the whole family sympathizes, tears are shed, and we really have to process it together.
In this case, it involved a family from UA and the reaction there was thoroughly different. The owner of the pet was upset with tears, but the rest of the family: nothing. Non. The game we were playing continued as normal and the only comment that came was something like dude, it’s just an animal, we’ll buy another one.
For us “Westerners” that sounds cold, but this is a cultural difference. For them, this is part of life and that’s how they deal with it. Because their grandfather died in WWII, their father survived communism, their own house in UA is no longer there, several family members are now fighting in UA or have even died, they have fled, so life is different for them and their life has an entirely different value. Today it may be over is a very normal reality for them and not something they know from theory. They live with that feeling from birth. To make it even clearer (for enthusiasts, for the source see: click), the value of a life can even be expressed in cold numbers… (figures from the year 2000)
In numbers, which are cold as ice… a life in the US is worth 28206, in the Netherlands it’s worth 22307, in Germany 24406, in Poland a life is worth 3362, Russia 2256.
A human life in the Netherlands is therefore worth 9.88x as much as a life in Russia… A Polish person is “worth” 6.6x less than a Dutch person… Now those numbers are from the year 2000, but the fact is and remains that the value of a human life here is really experienced and is different.
Suppose, tomorrow, literally 439 soldiers from your country will die on the battlefield. The newspapers would be full of them. Parliamentary questions, lawsuits, anger, protests. But on average, that many Russian soldiers have died in the war with Ukraine today. Has there been so much commotion in your country today because of those numbers? No. And OK, “we” think that the Russians are the aggressor, so that’s their own fault? But… uh… every human life should be worth just as much, right? Or? Or is it suddenly different now…? Oops…
Suppose that tomorrow, literally 42 innocent civilians will die as a result of an attack in your country. And again the day after tomorrow. And the next day… The newspapers would be full of it. Parliamentary questions, lawsuits, anger, protests. But on average, 42 Ukrainian civilians died today… Was there so much commotion in your country today because of those numbers? No. Yet wait a minute… “we” think Ukraine is the victim of violence, right? Why is that news no longer in the top 10? Every day? Shouldn’t every human life be worth just as much? Or? Or is it suddenly different now…? Oops… Oh yeah, Ukrainian soldiers? 26 on average per day.
Are those numbers that the media reports true in terms of victims? No idea, likely not, because the propaganda from both sides is enormous, so those figures are probably wrong. But what is certainly morally wrong is that a human life really has a different value, depending on where you are born. Because today, when I wrote this, the news in the Netherlands… not a word about the war in Ukraine. Nothing. And our donation flow is drying up. Hard.
A homeless person in Poland lives on average 4 years, after which he is either dead or off the streets. We sometimes take them out to eat for 10 Euro per person. One therapy session for a refugee costs us 30 Euro. Allowing a homeless person to make a wholly new start costs approximately Euro 350, group therapy costs us approximately Euro 50. But we cannot afford that privately. What is a life worth to you, and are you literally helping us save lives today? See: https://www.emmy.foundation/en/funding/ for more information.
