Material things can blind us to the true values in life. In the Franklin County Courthouse in Virginia is preserved the will of the man who owned Booker T. Washington as a slave. Since most of his property was in slaves, the owner had listed them by name with his property and set down a price by each one of them. Opposite the name of Booker T. Washington was marked $200.
Was this the fair estimate of that youngster’s worth? Hardly, for he turned out to be one of America’s greatest men and an educator who inspired his people to knowledge. After he was set free, he educated himself and then started Tuskegee College in Alabama. He became the best known African American man in America and served as an advisor to presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft. But that old plantation owner did not see the essential worth of the slave beyond the possibility of physical labor.
Be careful that life doesn’t blind you to something or someone's true value. One of life’s greatest questions is this, “What is man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” Make sure you place the greatest value on your soul and that of others. It’s the only thing that never loses value.