Why Steem has Value: A Reflection on the Nature of Money and Markets (from a child's perspective)

What is money?

As children, we see our parents handing over these pieces of paper at so many different places.
It doesn't make sense, but we are too young to know what "sense" is, so we accept it.
How could one greasy, tiny, crumply green paper result in a watermelon???
Why are these metal discs good for getting toys from the little machines at the front of the store.
I'm not really sure, but one thing is for certain. I put that shiny metal thing in, turn the knob, and the little plastic capsule with the toy comes out.

What is a market?

I remember in 2nd grade I was sent to the principal's office and had to call home. I was in tears. Embarrassed. Shocked. Humiliated. I did not like to "get in trouble." What happened? Well, my classmates somehow decided that it was cool to have braces, and we found that if we fashioned paperclips skillfully enough, we could wear them as "braces" on our teeth. For whatever fucking goddamn silly reason (maybe the teacher was having a bad day; it could have been that her marriage was falling apart) we were all sent to "the office" to call home about our crime. I will never forget my grandpa's cheerful voice as he answered the phone.

Hullo!

Gr..Grampa (sobbing uncontrollably) It's Graham. I...I....got in trouble. Me and my friends put paperclips on our teeth because we thought they looked like braces and (more uncontrollable sobs) and so I had to call mom!

Well. Are ya okay??

...Yeah...

Okay, buddy! I'll see ya when you get back!

(click.)

A feeling of such utter relief flooded my body that I felt as if I had just received a death row pardon. I then put on a cocky and cool attitude and sauntered into the next class where everybody was already watching a movie and staring at the returning convicts. I said "My grandpa didn't even care." Man. Jeeze. Thank you, Grandpa.

Value is subjective.

Where am I going with all this? To us, as second graders, those paperclips had value more on that day than on any other day. We had a little market of sorts. There can be little disagreement that value is subjective. To put it in laymen's terms, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Money is the same.

Ancient civilizations used to trade with shells. Kids trade baseball cards....well...er...maybe Pokémon cards now. Are baseball cards still alive? Anyway. I digress. Money is simply a symbol of value that a group of two or more individuals agrees upon. Me and you both love Van Halen? Great. From here on out we shall do business only in Van Halen albums. Fancy pocket lint? Belly-button lint? Pieces of green paper? It matters not. Value is subjectively determined, and we can use whatever we want as a symbol of said value, providing that others will join us in using this symbol in the market.

So, to wrap this up. Look at your dollar. Look at your yen. Imagine that tomorrow it turns into a rock. Everybody just has rocks in their wallet. Your actual situation would really not be that much different than it is today if everybody just went along to get along and decided to agree that rocks are the "new money." You see, people make value. This is precisely why Steem is important.

Steem does not have value because a government says it does. It does not have value because of some religious edict, ritual or rite. It has value because people freely came together and agreed upon it as a means of exchange. No coercion. No arbitrary edicts. Just a free market of minds, excited about the possibilities of this new currency, and investors, advertisers, creators and speculators all willing to take a risk with their time, capital, and ideas, for their own purely subjective reasons and interests. Does it get any better than this!? The smallest minority on earth is the individual, and cryptocurrencies such as Steem are the first currencies to be beholden to individuals themselves, instead of to "gods" and "kings."