I can buy the World, Can you?

A century ago we just began driving and developing the wings to help make us fly. It was believed by many that no one would ever be going to space. Now, you can purchase a flight into space as long as you have roughly 20 million dollars available. A century ago people would marry those who are around them. Now for the right price you can purchase mail- order brides for the right price. It is sad to think that everything is for sale. If everything is for sale, then what value is love? Would you let your wife or husband go on a date with someone for $100? Probably not, however what if it was $100 million. For that price I bet most people would let them go on an extended date.

If everything is for sale, does that mean we have lost everything we were ever taught about morals and integrity? With internet commerce such as Ebay and many other person to person selling sites, you can literally purchase anything; if you have the right amount of money.

This last week I read a story by Salman Rushdie that illustrated how everything in the world is for sale. In his novel East, West, there is a short story “At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers.” The Ruby Slippers are a mirror image of the life of Rushdie. The Ruby Slippers are up for sale in the auction and Rushdie is determined to buy them as. By Rushdie attempting to bid on a pair of slippers that represent his life, shows that everything is for sale. “Everything is for sale, and under the firm yet essentially benevolent supervision of the auctioneers” (p. 99) This quote helps depict how even Rushdie believes everything is for sale.

When the price of the slippers gets to high, Rushdie decides he can no longer bid on them. He believed that the price of the slippers was too high for the value of the woman he was intending to purchase them for, Gale. At the end of the auction Rushdie says, “Next week there is another auction. Family trees, coats of arms, royal lineages will be up for sale, and into any these one may insert any name one chooses, one’s own, or one’s beloveds. (p 102).

Money can buy anything. In today’s world where the influence of the church has fallen to just Sunday mornings and people continually doing as the please, nothing is going to change soon. Today, I could order a flight into space, a college degree with honors in any field I wish, five new wives, an island, and how about a few nuclear bombs. The only thing that is preventing me from doing all this is the number of dollars I own, otherwise I can purchase anything I want.

My real concern if everything is for sale, does that mean we have lost the value of a good hard day of work? How about accomplishments that take years to attain? College degrees, athletic scholarships, winning championships, anything that takes dedication and hard work. Is it all really worth it if you can just buy it?