Pirates, Monkeys, Health care, Oh my! On Working for Gold…Part 2 of 2

In my last post I wrote about how my son repaired his flawed design (putting the first aid station for wounded pirates up on the highest watchtower) by introducing flexible service providers – monkey doctors and parrot nurses – that would come DOWN to the patients and administer the health care. (Yes, this still makes me smile).

He continued to explain how the treasure chest of gold coins (don’t all pirates have them?) are involved:

A: And see this, these gold coins?
K: Yeah, what are they for?
A: Well, the pirates give the monkey the gold coins.
K: What does the monkey do with them?
A: Well, the monkey takes the gold coin up and puts it in the first aid station and then comes down and gives the pirate the first aid …
K: So, the coins are for payment?
A: Well, yes, but the monkey gives the pirate the first aid and then gives the money back to the pirate
K: So, the pirate gives the monkey doctor the coin but then gets the coin back after he gets the first aid?
A: Yes
K: Do you know what they call that, when you give your money to someone and that person holds on to it and then gives that back?
A: No
K: It’s called a deposit
A: Yes, a deposit. They get a deposit
Then his grandmother, who was visiting at the time, joined in.
G: Or, another word is free – they get the first aid for free since they paid and then got all their money back
A: Yes, free.

That my son developed a whole system that was free isn’t really that far-fetched considering I’ve not explained to him the connection between work and money. I had recently told him his parents “work for good” and “to make the world better.” I didn’t talk about needing to work to have a house, food, etc. because I thought it more important at that moment, driving home from school, he have a sense of the purpose of work.

But he and all of us somehow know that the gold coins still play an important role in the transaction.
Most people who feel they “work for good” often don’t feel their work is valued correctly to the amount they give back to the community. They don’t always ask for it either nor expect it. But it seems to me, as a community in general, what we value, how we express that value and compensate it, is critical. Teachers for example, the people charged with ensuring our long term social and economic success (if kids can’t read, write and think what hope do we have?) are given grief for their work in the classrooms and paid a pittance compared to their overall value in society.

I don’t have a good answer about valuation of services, and how to explain that doing good is also worth something monetarily. The ultimate gold we work for could be ‘the greater good,’ but we also need to support ourselves. Until I figure it out – all the games at my house involve deposits of gold coins or getting back $20 for $3 spent at the pretend store.