value of life

what is the value of life? how does one measure the value of life? is it valued according to any commercial parameter? is this amount of knowledge one has? is this the number of accomplishments one has? is it one's age? and finally is it one's species?

today while driving down a road i saw a stray puppy in the middle of the road. a geriatric was driving his maruti car straight at the puppy. i stopped my scooter and honked to scare the puppy away. thankfully any fatalities was avoided. that got me thinking. is a puppy's life any less valuable than a human being's life? after all it is still a life form!!!
now if it was a human child the geriatric might have been more careful. right?
as i got thinking i started reviewing the thread of human thought. whenever accidents occur with a number of human fatalities the reporting is often like this, x number of people were killed of whom y were women and z were children. no mention of men. perhaps they expect the reader to do the math to find the number of dead men. but often it is injuries to women and children that are given predominance over mishaps with men. why? is it because their lives are more important? or is it because society considers protection of women and children, the "weaker" section as its primary duty? is it genuine consideration or a mutated form of male chauvinism?

some years back there was a bus accident where lot of women sitting in their designated front side of the bus were killed. days later govt issued a new order that ladies' seats were to be at the back. so position occupied by ladies can be occupied by men, so that men can die more easily?

everyday a lot of people die and it is most often women's tragedies that get attention.

now coming to puppy case, according to budhism a person can go through many cycles of birth as various life forms, as an ant, a dog, a fish, a tiger anything basically. now that may be a quirky idea, but it still calls for a greater understanding for the value of life. this blog is not a statement but a listing of my various doubts. i mean, seriously how can we know the value of life?
or is there something as such.
thinking abt it when we smack off those dastardly mosquitoes do we consider that they are as alive as our pets, or even us? after all a life is still a life , ryt?
so basically i think we are all nepotic in giving more important to human species than to other species.

now i am starting to sound like maneka gandhi. dont worry i shall be a human nepotic to the end. and i do enjoy smacking off those mosquitoes especially when they drone in my ears when i am half asleep on warm days when kseb shuts down power at 2 am!!!!