The $20 Bill

A teacher began her class in the college lecture hall by holding up a $20 bill. The hall was filled with almost 200 students.  She asked them "Who would like this $20 bill?" Almost every hand was raised. She said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this." Then she crumpled the twenty dollar bill up. Now she asked, "Who still wants it?" The hands were all still in the air.

She went on and asked "what if I do this?" And she dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with her shoe. Then she picked it up.  The twenty was now crumpled and dirty.

"Now who still wants this $20?" Still the hands were the air.

"You have all learned a valuable lesson today. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. I could crumple it, drop it, step on it, and you still saw the value."

"There are many times in our lives when we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the challenges we face and the decisions we make. At times, we feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened to you, you will never lose your value: dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love and care about you."

The worth and value of your life is not about what you do or what was done to you but rather about the essence of who you are. You have value just being you.