Bookmark Jamaica-Gleaner.com
Go-Jamaica Gleaner Classifieds Discover Jamaica Youth Link Jamaica
Business Directory Go Shopping inns of jamaica Local Communities

Home
Lead Stories
News
Business
Sport
Commentary
Letters
Entertainment
What's Cooking
More News
The Star
Financial Gleaner
Overseas News
The Voice
Communities
Hospitality Jamaica
Google
Web
Jamaica- gleaner.com

Archives
1998 - Now (HTML)
1834 - Now (PDF)
Services
Find a Jamaican
Careers
Library
Power 106FM
Weather
Subscriptions
News by E-mail
Newsletter
Print Subscriptions
Interactive
Chat
Dating & Love
Free Email
Guestbook
ScreenSavers
Submit a Letter
WebCam
Weekly Poll
About Us
Advertising
Gleaner Company
Contact Us
Other News
Stabroek News

Money not the measure of a man
published: Thursday | May 8, 2008

Thomas Phinemann, Contributor

As the cost of food and fuel becomes increasingly prohibitive, women are more demanding, and men more depressed.

It seems that as prices rise, so does the greed displayed by some women. They seem to have an insatiable appetite for things they can't afford and somehow have been trained to extract whatever they want from men at all cost.

Some of us do our best to support our families and put aside enough for the lean times. But this is becoming a tedious task, and we dare not complain lest we be labelled mean and worthless.

Depleted savings

If we want a comfortable night's rest, we had better keep quiet as we watch our savings being depleted, especially as some of us have made bad investments and are now praying that we will be able to recover at least the principal sum that we invested. What makes matters worse, we were perhaps planning to surprise our wives when we reaped the rich rewards from our investment.

It is a great idea to form a support group so that we can at least share our feelings and laugh at ourselves for being in 'the doghouse'. Let's encourage each other and watch for the telltale signs of depression and reach out to each other before it is too late. Bearing in mind that we are more prone to suicide than women, let's be on double watch for each other.

We are more important than money, although some women treat us as if we are nothing more than money machines. Our sole purpose is to churn out the dinero. It is time for us to assert ourselves and not be intimidated by women who call us names when we are not able to finance their greed.

Some of us even believe that our worth is measured by the amount of money that we can provide. We are embarrassed when we earn less money than our partners and some of us are foolish enough to allow our partners to feel that they work for themselves while we work to support the family. We do not want them to spend their money in the home as we are solely responsible to supply their every need.

Swallow our pride

A minority of men don't believe that our women should work, but with the escalation in the cost of living, we'll have to swallow our pride and go back to the drawing board to devise new, productive ways of maintaining our families - even if it means eating our words and ask for help from our women.

With the world in the throes of a food shortage, this is as good a time as any to change our attitude to money. We must not allow ourselves to be dominated by the culture of materialism.

Let us think of ourselves as the wonderful, powerful and intelligent human beings that we are.

Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.

More Business



Print this Page

Letters to the Editor

Most Popular Stories






© Copyright 1997-2008 Gleaner Company Ltd.
Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Letters to the Editor | Suggestions | Add our RSS feed
Home - Jamaica Gleaner