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THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN

-Harold J. Morowitz

THEME: Man with emotions, feelings, sensation, love, etc. is the most expensive man. Though human body can be talked in terms of money, human being is priceless.  

SUMMARY: On his birthday, the writer got a card from his daughter and son in law which stated that the price of human body is only 97 cents. The writer was not satisfied with this definition of human body. So, he himself started to investigate the thing by himself. He consulted a catalogue which contained the names of the different chemicals which make a human body. The prices of the chemicals were written in the catalogue according to per gram. Some chemicals were cheaper whereas some chemicals were really very costly. The writer started his calculation. He took his weight and subtracted from 68 % of water portion. He found that his dry weight 24,436 gm and by a further calculation, he came to know that he was worth of 6 million dollars.

He became very glad at this discovery. He had been sad at the information of 97 cents only but by his discovery, he suddenly felt that he was really a rich man. But, again he gave the whole matter a second thought. He thought that the chemicals printed in the card were only crude chemicals. So, they did cost so little. Again, the next difficulty was the price of the refined chemicals. Certainly, human body is not made up of crude chemicals but by the refined chemicals. In that case, his price was certainly not only six million dollar but six billion.

Again, he was not satisfied and started to think in a new direction. He thought that if at all he bought all the needed chemicals and put them in a bottle and also put the bottle in a fridge and if he shook the bottle he wasn't going to get a human body from it. Some organism was needed to change the chemicals into bones, flesh, and the other organs of the body. No such method or organism is invented yet. Even if it was invented and even if we could make a human body with the help of chemicals and the machines, the product wouldn't speak or feel or be angry or love anyone.


To sum up, though science can make a human body (though it’s not possible yet); science is certainly not going to make a human being. In fact, there is the difference between human body and human being. Human body can be talked in the terms of money but human being is priceless. Indeed, human being is the infinite preciousness. This is the final definition given by the writer.
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