A teenage girl walked up to her mother demanding money to buy a fancy watch. Puzzled, her mother asked, “Why do you want a fancy watch?” The girl replied, “Because it will help me fit in the social circle.”  Without a pause, the mother took out a crease-free INR 2000 note and questioned her daughter if it would be enough to buy the watch. “Yes!” the teenager excitedly said.

The mother calmly replied, “Sure. I will give it to you, but first, let me do this.” She crumpled the note up and said, “Do you still want it?” The young girl said, “Yes, mom!”  “Well,” the mother continued, “What if I do this?” She dropped the note on the ground, picked it and asked subtly, “Are you still willing to take this note?” The girl nodded.

Her mother then explained, “Sometimes, we feel small in the eyes of others and try so hard to fit in. During this, we often forget that no matter how crumpled we feel, we can never lose our inherent value.”

Moral: Our worth stays the same – it is independent of the opinion of others. 

The mother retracted the crumpled note and handed over an old watch instead. “Here’s the watch your grandmother gave me. It is almost 200 years old. Go to the watch store, tell them you want to exchange it for a new watch and see how much they offer you.”

The young girl went to the store and returned a while later. “They offered me INR 1000 because it is so old,” she said. “Well, if that’s the case, try the pawnshop,” the mother replied. The daughter did as told. “The pawnshop offered a mere INR 200 because it has a scratch,” she sighed.

The mother then asked her to take it to the museum. The daughter reluctantly went to the museum and returned with a smile. “The curator offered INR 375,000 for this watch! They want to include it in their precious antique collection!” she exclaimed.

Moral: Our worth varies – it is dependent on the opinion of others. 

Her mother explained the contradiction, “All of us carry an internal and external price tag. The internal one is how we value ourselves and, since it is the opinion of one person, it stays constant. Whereas when it comes to the external one, it is how others value us. Since we have so many ‘others’ in our lives, this number varies.”  The girl understood that her mother had driven home an important lesson.

Our worth never changes. However, it is the people we associate with that bring out the best or worst in us.  Perhaps that’s why we often are known by the company we keep!