What is the Worth of a Soul?

Shylock in the Merchant of Venice asked

"If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?"

I think of this line often. I also think of the quote "Your worth does not change based on someone else's inability to see it"

It's concerning to me that individuals justify their own actions by blaming another. Mother Teresa said:

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I don't understand how inflicting pain or hardship on someone else is ever justifiable.

Life is filled with joy, Indescribable joy like when you first hold your child or you see your child accomplish something they once struggled with. But it's also saturated with pain-- It has physical pain like going into labor or have kidney stones.

It has emotional pain like when you see a loved one suffering and can't do anything about it or spiritual pain when you face your refiner's fire or toughest challenges and your faith is shaken. Whether that is faith in God, in yourself or in humanity.

Then there is the pain that overtakes you physically, emotionally and spiritually. It causes every fiber of your being to be wrought with anguish.

That pain for some is learning they can never have a child or that the child they were blessed with has been taken from this world. Having a tragedy change life in an instant or seeing the life they once knew slowly erode into something new. Life is filled with joy and pain.

Everyone is that to someone else. They bring immense joy to someone's soul just by existing. And it would rip a hole in the loved one's soul if they were gone.

Whether you know it or not, whether you believe it to be true- you, and every person around you, are the entire world to someone.

Not everyone is capable of showing it. In fact, many don't realize how much another soul is worth until they are faced with the reality of its absence.

Every soul is cherished and critical to the tapestry of life. Just because you don't automatically recognize the worth of that soul to the world, how they are the world to someone else, doesn't mean they deserve to be treated as any less.

I wish more would recognize every soul has great worth. To the people who love them, to those who will learn from them, to every person they meet. Not because of who they are, but because of the opportunity they give you to show who you are.

Nothing a person does changes unconditional love. That's why it's called unconditional. There are no conditions. The joys of its existence give life a cherished purpose while its world crushing loss forever wounds the soul and sentences it to a lonely permanent state of mourning.

Each soul is someone else's entire universe. They are wonder and beauty and giggles and joy and love. You don't have to love them for who they are to you. Show them love because they are the world to someone else. Show them love for their mom who isn't there to do it, show them kindness for the times a stranger showed kindness to you.

Many have forgotten the worth of their own soul. To them I say. Forget the tapes in your head telling you that you're not good enough. You are more than enough. You are the entire world. You are past, present and potential joy. You give each day meaning for someone. You don't realize who, but I promise it's many more than you could possibly imagine.

Just an encouraging smile from you tomorrow could save someone's life or at least make their day brighter. You have gifts to give and talents to share and you are more than enough. You are everything. Nothing can ever change that. You are potential joy, potential love, potential kindness, potential greatness, you are someone's world and the potential universe for someone else.

Your worth is not diminished just because you can't see it. You are enough. You are everything.