Ten Peso Coin

This is a little economics lesson, I guess.

This is a 10 peso coin. That's 10 bucks in the currency of the Philippines to my dear, beloved readers from other countries. It has two Filipino heroes on it --- Andres Bonifacio and Apolinario Mabini. Yeah, nice.

So what can you buy with it, you ask. Well, for that coin you can get yourselves a sachet of shampoo. Or you can get a bottle of distilled water (mineral can go up to P12). Or you can buy yourself a lot of sweets. Yeah, not really a lot! That P10 coin isn't really worth much.

Or is it?

In 2000, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) decided to phase out the brown P10 peso bill and replace it with a coin. They decided on a design which incorporates both a silvery and golish metal (do'nt know exactly what metals Philippine coins are made of). Unfortunately, they must have left out the ish part in goldish when they were getting the metals. This resulted in the 2000 and 2001 editions of the coin with real gold. And it took them two years to correct the mistake.

Yeah, that's right. That's real gold in your 2000 or 2001 1o peso coin. As in, you can melt the centre of that and make a ring or something! As in, foreigners are lining up to buy those editions of the coins for their gold content. As in, yes, your ten peso coin is worth more that P10. Your coin is worth more than what everyone says its worth is supposed to be.

Not so worthless now, is it?!

In life, we are those 10 peso coins. We all have very valuable things in us (our talents, abilities, our heart, determination...). Like the gold in those coins, we are very precious. Like the gold in those coins, we shine. Like the gold in those coins, we can even save nations. That's how we were made.

Unfortunately, like those coins, we never realise how valuable we are because the world says that our value is limited. Every time someone tells you that you're too fat/lazy/conceited/whatever, they try to dictate our value. Every time people say that you can't do something, they underestimate your worth. And every time we agree with them, we agree with the value they assign to us. Not realising our potential. Not realsing just how precious we are. Not realsing that there is gold in us.

One of the most fatal mistakes of humanity is to look at himself and think that their worthless when really, they are priceless. And no, that price can buy something better than just another shampoo sachet.