I often watch the television program Antiques Roadshow. It’s one of my favorites. The show focuses on people who want to have their treasures, heirlooms, and sometimes “trash heap finds,” evaluated. It intrigues me to see the things people treasure and the things they discard as valueless. The items they bring are judged by expert appraisers who estimate their value. Granny’s earrings and china, dolls and toys, documents and manuscripts, uniforms and costumes, are carefully inspected.
On the TV show, the world’s clutter parades before viewers. Sometimes there are people bearing sculptures or paintings. Other times, there are war buffs with guns and cannonballs, knives and swords, tunics and helmets. The bearers of these treasures have come for assessment of their worth. Is the chest or chair English or American, walnut or mahogany, or just plain pine?
Thinking about validity and value leads me to an even more vital question: In life’s “Roadshow,” do we give the same consideration in determining the value of our daily thoughts? Are we willing to subject them to the same scrutiny as these inanimate objects? Do we discard the unworthy, immoral, and unjust ideas that flow so freely from the daily media?
