My 9 yo old son has just woken up, and comes downstairs to greet me as I am getting ready for work.
Son: “Daddy, what am I worth?”
Daddy has also just awoken, so isn’t as sharp as might be needed.
Me: “What do you mean, boyo?”
Son: “Well, I heard that Bill Gates is worth something like a billion billions dollars, and so I want to know what I am worth?”
Daddy responds quickly, and buys time to think of a better answer than this…
Me: “Well boyo, Bill Gates was in a software company that wound up selling billions of dollars of software over like 30 years all over the world, and became very wealthy.”
Son: “Ok Daddy, so what am I worth.”
The pressure continues. Daddy knows that this is the moment. A moment. A potential turning point in the outlook of a youngster. He is the son. I am the father. He wants to know.
As quick as I could think, this is all I could come up with in that moment :
Me: “Boyo, you are priceless.”
I felt weak, but hopeful for this effort.
Son : “Oh, NOW I see how it is all coming together!”
And we both laughed.
I am not sure what he concluded.