Grammar Gazette - Issue 2, 2023

RECLAIMING TRUE VALUE: THE ILLUSIONS OF WORTH IN A MATERIALISTIC WORLD Neve McNab (10B), Junior winner What do you think is the rarest event that you could experience? Being struck by lightning, winning the lottery—or maybe winning it twice? In any of these instances, the odds seem impossible. However, without knowing it, we have all defied far more significant odds. While your chances of winning Saturday’s Powerball are unlikely, you might just be in luck, considering the chance of each of us being born has been estimated to be one in 400 trillion. With a win like that, why aren’t we celebrating? Why don’t we take the time to stop, appreciate, and marvel at our fortune? If our souls and lives were what we saw as the origins of our worth, wouldn’t we all be living it up, and feeling like lotto winners? Clearly, there has been a disconnect. At some point, our net worth, among other superficial quantities, has replaced and clouded our view of what our true worth is. Today, I would like to welcome you to an auction. Up on the blocks is a young girl. She looks just like us. How will society appraise or praise her? How will they place their bids? She’s wearing a private school uniform; society raises its bids. She’s holding sports gear and is on the Open team; society raises its bid again. She’s blonde and beautiful; so, once more, society raises its bid. Yet, the girl is yet to speak. Society doesn’t even know her, yet they are willing to raise her above the rest of the lotto winners without knowing any more than what they can see. Constantly, society measures us against a mythical and unachievable standard to decide how worthy we are. Even if we are not consciously aware of it, the image of the attributes and qualities we need to display is being drilled into us. So, do we—you, me, the girl up on the blocks—really believe that this should be the origin of our worth? I don’t. Our own passions, moral principles, and personal contributions to those around us are truly what we should be judged on. Society has been selling this girl short, blindsided by materialism and superficiality. Going once; going twice; gone. I call this auction to a close. Society can no longer pass judgement on this girl, or anyone else as we have our lives, our lotto tickets, and with that the origin of our intrinsic worth.

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… I want to talk about labelling. Given our society’s current obsession with labelling and over-identification, it’s difficult to conceive a world in which they don’t determine basically every aspect of our existence. However, for people who find the categories they fill not representative of their full personal identity, this enforced labelling has countless detrimental effects. There is real value in having labels to help navigate the complex interfaces of social media whirlwinds and facilitate beneficial political activism on issues challenging the core of our society. However, by confusing labels as not ‘helpful tools’ but rather vital instruments to our identity, we give them the power to confine and restrict our sense of self, ultimately dehumanising us to nothing more than a list of adjectives. By recognising labels have a time and place, celebrating commonalities between diverse groups, and actively engaging with communities beyond their superficial categories, we create a more inclusive society, and ensure that we don’t let our labels write us into a corner. Thank you.

CAPTIONS 1 EMMA READDY (12L) 2 NEVE MCNAB (10B)

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BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

GAZETTE • ISSUE 2, 2023 ISSUE 2, 2023