Another rant

     Tonight at dinner I got into a discussion with my parents over the perception of value.  Our family has a friend who's trying to make it as an artist but despite her recognized talent, numerous awards, degree from Yale's art school, and a fellowship, she's struggling to get by in New York.  So, why is it that this clearly gifted artist is hardly able to sell a painting for a few hundred dollars when just two years ago a canvas with a few splatters of paint on it sold for over $140 MILLION DOLLARS.  To put that in perspective, you could buy nearly 300 $500,000 houses  Clearly, there are some reasons for the drastic difference in price range and to the trained eye the previously described painting can be revealed as one of Jackson Pollock's masterpieces, but I don't know how anyone could ever justify to their spouse buying a $140 MILLION DOLLAR painting, it just simply doesn't make sense to me.  
     On the way home from dinner I thought more and more about the varying values placed on goods and professions and why this is so.  Why does a stone-mason or physical laboror make $12 an hour while the average salary on Wall Street is $363,000 a year.  One might say that working on Wall Street is much more difficult, more demanding and requires a higher education, and this may be true to a degree, but after attempting--and failing-- to build a rock wall multiple time for APES I can assure you that being a stone-mason is no easy job.  As I continued to think on the subject my mind stumbled across the plight of teachers.  Teachers have some of the most important jobs--they're responsible for raising the next generation and instilling both the knowledge and habits for success--but the average teacher makes only around $55,000 a year!!!  How is this so, when a wine-taster will make hundreds of thousands of dollars each year?  Now this is my own opinion, but the only two jobs that I could think of that match their respective "values" are that of a lawyer and a doctor.  I'm sure there are others, but it's awfully sad when I can only name two professions that actually make what they deserve.