Inexpensive
First published on emmaecho.com, my portfolio site, in 2020. I'm streamlining emmaecho, however, the archives will still be accessible here.
((( INEXPENSIVE )))
I’ve been playing a game lately. It's a creative game, meant to challenge myself to create something new, based on a weekly prompt - a random adjective. This week (the last full week of June 2020) the adjective was 'inexpensive.' I have to admit, this was the most difficult prompt so far, and I started out having no idea where I was going with it, but as I sat down and thought about it, it grew into something much greater than I was expecting, so I'm sharing those thoughts here.
Inexpensive has gotten me thinking about what it means to place value on something, and the mistaken thought that price is value. There are many things that I can think of that are inexpensive but have tremendous value. In fact, most worthwhile experiences that I have had have tremendous emotional value, but cost very little, if anything at all. Some things you just can’t buy.
Inexpensive is somewhat of a lifestyle of mine, though I wouldn’t describe myself or my lifestyle as “cheap” – another definition for inexpensive. Inexpensive has seemed to also taken on the guise of poor quality, in some instances. While that certainly can be the case, I can think of many things that are inexpensive but of utmost quality. It’s inexpensive to appreciate a flower, for example. Or, the way a bee relishes the flower it’s on – it’s inexpensive to enjoy that, too.
Likewise, there are countless ways to show appreciation for someone, and they all are fairly inexpensive. Sending an email or a letter. Making a phone call. Sharing a story. All inexpensive, but valuable – both to the initiator and the recipient.
It’s inexpensive to make nourishing, healing foods. It certainly costs less than eating out at restaurants frequently, and is quite probably healthier in most instances.
It can be inexpensive to give assistance to others, even monetarily, though abundance is relative, and what seems like little to one may be a huge sum for another. I recall a story of a small, poor Central American community, where the families lived on very meager incomes, and what little savings they had were not enough to buy anything of great use for the family. The people got together and gave what little savings they had to one family, which then had enough money to purchase a stove for their household. Everyone would continue saving what little they could, and in time, it would be their turn to be the recipient of the community cash pool. It shows that something can be insignificant, almost useless, on its own, but when it is a part of a bigger idea, things can be manifested that would have been unattainable had they stayed the vision of just one person.
Inexpensive is not something that I would use to describe a human being, nor any other life. I would not care to put a price on another being, though there are those who would. There are those who might call another ‘worthless’ or treat them as such. There is no excuse for this, but there is a solution, and this solution IS inexpensive to implement. It simply is the act of caring for another being, checking that they are okay, that they have what they NEED to survive today. The beautiful soul Janaya "The Future" Khan sends the message of a solution for our hourglass-shaped societal structure, and the message comes from penguins. Penguins that are all suffering from the cold, and yet they arrange themselves into rotating spirals, where the warmest are held within the small, inner arms of the spiral, and the outer wings are where the coldest penguins are, yet they are sheltering those within, and this is not a permanent place for them to stay – the outermost penguins are shifted to the inside, to warm them up, and the penguins that were previously in the center are now shifted to the outside to allow others to survive. They all survive together this way, sharing the suffering for a time, and sharing the comfort. Realizing that others are suffering and consequently changing behaviors, giving up comfort for a time so that others may live. It is inexpensive to help someone up when they’ve fallen, to bring someone in from the cold.
It is inexpensive to take a walk in nature, to enjoy the colors of a sunset, or to appreciate the way the layers of the Earth in an outcrop lie upon one another just so – there really is no way to put a value to that. It is not inexpensive, but priceless.
Inexpensive has gotten me thinking about what it means to place value on something, and the mistaken thought that price is value. There are many things that I can think of that are inexpensive but have tremendous value. In fact, most worthwhile experiences that I have had have tremendous emotional value, but cost very little, if anything at all. Some things you just can’t buy.
Inexpensive is somewhat of a lifestyle of mine, though I wouldn’t describe myself or my lifestyle as “cheap” – another definition for inexpensive. Inexpensive has seemed to also taken on the guise of poor quality, in some instances. While that certainly can be the case, I can think of many things that are inexpensive but of utmost quality. It’s inexpensive to appreciate a flower, for example. Or, the way a bee relishes the flower it’s on – it’s inexpensive to enjoy that, too.
Likewise, there are countless ways to show appreciation for someone, and they all are fairly inexpensive. Sending an email or a letter. Making a phone call. Sharing a story. All inexpensive, but valuable – both to the initiator and the recipient.
It’s inexpensive to make nourishing, healing foods. It certainly costs less than eating out at restaurants frequently, and is quite probably healthier in most instances.
It can be inexpensive to give assistance to others, even monetarily, though abundance is relative, and what seems like little to one may be a huge sum for another. I recall a story of a small, poor Central American community, where the families lived on very meager incomes, and what little savings they had were not enough to buy anything of great use for the family. The people got together and gave what little savings they had to one family, which then had enough money to purchase a stove for their household. Everyone would continue saving what little they could, and in time, it would be their turn to be the recipient of the community cash pool. It shows that something can be insignificant, almost useless, on its own, but when it is a part of a bigger idea, things can be manifested that would have been unattainable had they stayed the vision of just one person.
Inexpensive is not something that I would use to describe a human being, nor any other life. I would not care to put a price on another being, though there are those who would. There are those who might call another ‘worthless’ or treat them as such. There is no excuse for this, but there is a solution, and this solution IS inexpensive to implement. It simply is the act of caring for another being, checking that they are okay, that they have what they NEED to survive today. The beautiful soul Janaya "The Future" Khan sends the message of a solution for our hourglass-shaped societal structure, and the message comes from penguins. Penguins that are all suffering from the cold, and yet they arrange themselves into rotating spirals, where the warmest are held within the small, inner arms of the spiral, and the outer wings are where the coldest penguins are, yet they are sheltering those within, and this is not a permanent place for them to stay – the outermost penguins are shifted to the inside, to warm them up, and the penguins that were previously in the center are now shifted to the outside to allow others to survive. They all survive together this way, sharing the suffering for a time, and sharing the comfort. Realizing that others are suffering and consequently changing behaviors, giving up comfort for a time so that others may live. It is inexpensive to help someone up when they’ve fallen, to bring someone in from the cold.
It is inexpensive to take a walk in nature, to enjoy the colors of a sunset, or to appreciate the way the layers of the Earth in an outcrop lie upon one another just so – there really is no way to put a value to that. It is not inexpensive, but priceless.
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