On Cabbages and Assigning Worth

The actual update about my trip to HK and TW will come later, I promise.

--Someone I met while on my trip asked me why I was in Taiwan, asked me whether I was getting paid to travel all that way to do what I did. These are my reflections in response to those questions...--

While in Taipei, Narutobridesmaid, Papacheng, and I got to spend a lazy day at the National Palace Museum...the one with all the artifacts that the Republic Party took with them when they had to leave the mainland. Haha. They really have awesome exhibits there, especially about Chinese characters, and ancient Chinese art. So lovely! For like-minded history and art lovers out there, I highly recommend you take your time to enjoy yourself here. For those who hate museums, just skip it. :)

While there, NB and I realized there were a lot of peculiar products in the various gift shops calling attention to a cabbage. Yes, that's right, a cabbage. Not just any cabbage, but this one:



It's made out of jade, and causes lots of tourists from mainland to come in droves and crowd around the glass, because apparently there is "the masterful utilisation of natural colour variations in the jade to recreate colour variations in the cabbage." (wayfaring.info).

Meanwhile, NB, Papacheng, and I took one look and had the same reaction: o_O; (It's just a cabbage...what the heck???)

Later, I shared with Papacheng how absurd I thought it was that people thought this jade cabbage was worth so much that they would spend thousands and millions on products and publicity and travel on this thing, because I thought it was worth absolutely zero of my money.

And then I thought, well, isn't that really how the value of everything in life is assigned? That museum thought the cabbage was so precious, and I thought it was a joke. I can go shopping, and see that the store say that a particular dress is worth $20, but if I"m not willing to dish out that money, to me, it isn't worth that much. If my boss tells me that getting a degree in a certain field will earn me top earnings, but I decide that social work is really what I'm called to, then that other degree is really not all that valuable.

Someone might look at us, spending thousands of dollars to cover not only our own travel expenses, but the total costs of attendance and materials for the Taiwanese children we were serving, and say that it wasn't worth it, that we should at least get paid. I look at that sacrifice and say that if even one seed got to land on good soil, then the whole trip would have paid itself off.

J said: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." (Matt 13:44-46)