What is an ordinary life? Do we have a unit or standard to measure the value of life?
Well, the answers are: non-existent and no, respectively.
Life per se is no less than a miracle. It evolved from single-celled organisms to the most complex forms like humankind and other millions of species existing today. If we focus precisely on human life, it is not simple either; it took around six million years of constant adaptation and survival. Even more beautiful is the fact that we live today, every one of us, because a long chain of our ancestors survived and passed on their genes. Hundreds of generations survived through the Stone Age, diseases, famines, wars, and their fate, which made our lives possible today. Therefore, life is not ordinary in origin.
Nonetheless, many of us take our lives for granted, for we believe a life must be miraculous in content, as it is in origin, to be valued. This desire for an exceptional life rests on several factors, like the psychological urge to be seen and remembered even after death—perhaps to achieve significance through visibility and to defeat the truth of mortality. These desires drive us to build our lives as exceptional, and we spend all our lives hustling for visibility.
Besides that, we are living in a digitised world where many of us share our routines and achievements. In that virtual world, everyone seems to be living a successful life. We do not only watch, like, or comment upon the updates of these carefully curated digital identities, but we constantly compare ourselves with those virtual lifestyles. This comparison of a ‘reel life’ versus a real life results in dissatisfaction with our so-called “ordinary” lives.
As a result, be it as unfortunate as it may, today humanity distinguishes between a life that is special and a life that is ordinary, and attaches value to both forms accordingly. Although we lack a unit to measure the worth of a life, that doesn’t stop us from placing a value upon it. We have marked certain standards to help us distinguish between a simple and extraordinary life. These standards include a person’s profession, their lifestyle, routine, and contributions to the advancement of humankind. A dream job, a successful business empire, the discovery or invention of something meaningful, and significant fame are seen as non-negotiable items on the list of categories that label a life as exceptional.
Meanwhile, a teacher, farmer, banker, clerk, nurse, or a person working in a small corporation is assumed to be living an ordinary life because it is believed that their life is ordinary in content. These people may not be Einstein, Marie Curie, Plato, or Sigmund Freud; however, they are the very pillars holding the burden of entire civilisations. Imagine if all the nurses, farmers, and people we believe have an ordinary life suddenly disappeared. It scares us to death, because we are well aware that civilisation would collapse. For civilisation survives not because of a handful of individuals, but because millions quietly fulfil their responsibilities every day.
The purity of origin, burden-sharing, contribution to society’s development, noble professions, elite lifestyles, fame, and visibility —these are not the factors that distinguish life as ordinary or extraordinary. You might wonder: if we reject these standards, then what makes life extraordinary? Or what is the value of an ordinary life?
Perhaps what we call an ordinary life is not ordinary at all. But if we still discuss the value of the life that is assumed to be ordinary, then the value of that so-called ordinary life is equivalent to that of the one believed to be extraordinary. Because whether or not we discover something, offer humanity a golden idea, or solve an ancient mystery concerning the human mind, we are still members of the human race. Our existence is unique, beautiful, and meaningful despite our achievements or failures. It was always thus, and always will be.
We must not forget that we are alive, that we exist, and that we experience life. Even in the most ordinary or subtle routine, we spend time with our loved ones; we think and reflect upon our experiences that are unique to ourselves. We have the abilities to imagine, learn, communicate our thoughts, and ponder our existence. These alone make our ordinary lives just as valuable as those celebrated as extraordinary.
Moreover, there is the factor of being irreplaceable in the equation as well. In simple words, a person cannot be replaced by any other person in terms of relationships, history, thoughts, actions, and other such records. Thus, if everyone is irreplaceable because of their unique existence, then we are all unique and equally valuable. These existential and relational viewpoints lead to the conclusion that the value of life is inherently subjective. Thus, the value of what we call an ordinary life is dependent on the person living it.
However, if one insists upon an objective measure of life’s worth, no universally accepted standard exists. Different philosophical traditions have proposed different criteria. Utilitarian’s associate value with the well-being a life creates for the greatest number of people. Aristotelians emphasise virtue and human flourishing. Existentialists argue that life has no inherent meaning and that its value is created through individual choice and responsibility. Religious traditions, meanwhile, often locate the worth of life in its moral or spiritual significance.
The absence of a single agreed-upon standard itself demonstrates that no universal scale exists by which one life can be declared inherently more valuable than another. Thus, if you ever wonder whether you are living a life worthy of being valued, or whether your life is ordinary or not, ask yourself: what is an ordinary life? Do we have a unit or standard to measure the value of life?