Sunday June 4 2017

Last night I enjoyed a beautiful, serene, mostly undisturbed walk along a nature
trail in the Blue Slough near the mouth of the Chehalis River.

What was the dollar value of that walk?

Is it the opportunity cost?

This answer is very unsatisfying, because: the value could appear in the future, 
the value could be personal, the value could be unmeasurable (yet).

Figuring out the opportunity cost of my walk could take many forms: is it the 
dollars I could have used by otherwise working? But I don't have a job.

To convert my experience into something valuable, I would have to sell it: 
write a saleable story, sell a photograph or painting, sell a nature talk, 
charge you for reading this.

I don't want to sell. Therefore my experience has no value because it contributes 
nothing to GDP.

But if I sold these words, I would have done work and I would contribute to GDP.

In order for my walk to have value, I have to please someone with dollars into 
giving me some of those dollars. I have to prove the value to someone else.
But why? Why do I have to exchange my experience for something, in order for it 
to have any value?