We often use the word “precious” when describing babies. That is because life is precious and a new life, a newborn, is perhaps the most precious thing of all. That preciousness is what attracts us and implants into our psyche the desire to protect and care for a child. If only we could see the same preciousness of life at all ages.
Preciousness can be attributed to things. For example, famous paintings, archaeological objects and gold are precious because they are very old, expensive or rare. Also, personal treasures such as paintings and drawings that our children created, photos of family, good times and pictures of deceased family members are precious. My mother has two photos of my grandparents. One is of my grandfather in his uniform, when he was in the Italian cavalry during World War I. The other one is a beautiful picture of my grandmother as a young woman. Both photos were taken by a professional photographer. Few people had cameras of their own in those days. These photos are irreplaceable, their value incalculable.
Preciousness is also used in reference to moments in time, embedded in our memories as treasures. These are the memories that stay with us throughout our lives and give us a window into our past. Even painful memories can be precious because they may be the last memory of a person, a place, or even a time period when life was extremely difficult, but you got through it.
The anticipation of an important upcoming event that is brought to mind or a feeling that this may be the last time for an encounter or occasion to happen is priceless. Preparing for a wedding is one such occasion. What is considered important to one person may not be understood to be precious to another, but that is not what determines preciousness. It is akin to beauty being in the eyes of the beholder. Preciousness can be a personal matter.
The main thing is that whatever is precious to a person, a group or even society is precisely that which makes it true. If one does not care about things that are rare or expensive or antique in some way, they are not precious to that person or persons. But, to me, no matter what, finding preciousness in our lives is indeed a worthy quest.