I remember that as a kid, most short stories I read were usually about poor and honest farmers. And a standard phrase that snaked its way into these stories was “eke out a living.” I found the word “eke” fascinating; not just structurally. When I realized its meaning, it was as if the word was constructed just to suit the meaning it held. It had only three letter; even the number of letters was just as sparse as the meaning it projected. Everything about it indicated frugality.
Many years later, the phrase comes back to haunt me in the last year that I’ve spent (pun unintended) as an international graduate student. I trudge through my everyday life, accounting for every penny I have and lose (again, the word “penny” translated from a phrase into reality for me as my currency changed), albeit to feed and strengthen myself to keep up an intelligent conversation with my peers. Every time I take a trip to the ATM, my gait assumes a pathetic character, for I know that my wallet will lose weight in time. I’ll borrow a line from one of our wise stories, “What wealth is,” even though it may be out of context: wealth is everything you eat.
As you read the stories under our Money topic, you’ll be brutally, and hopefully humorously, reminded of it. You’ll wonder if there is a price to principles when you read Noah Wunsch’s scandalous yet enjoyable “Three hundred and fifty dollars,” where he regales with an anecdote of what research on sex parties cost him. Literally at what price, he asks thought-provokingly, would one say yes to going out of his or her comfort zone?
And if you think there’s only way you can lose sleep over the lack of money, Oliver Hartman demonstrates it is not the case as he recounts one day of a life of frugal living with a not-so-dreamy roommate. And Mary Kathryn Burke has an even worse (and smelly) tale to tell from her days of independence in “The tiniest sponge.” This one’s not for the weak-hearted! And if you want to get more personal, we have a dose of that too. If you think you’re the only one having introspective soliloquies on what money does to you, be sure to read Lee Shirk’s “burning question.”
It seems quite romantic to say that life is not all about money and that love and peace make the world go around. But the bitter truth is that we are governed by money to a larger extent than we’d allow ourselves to admit. There is greater respect for a Wall Street worker, there is greater trust in a person with higher financial stability. “Money = evil = good = life preservation = cultural catalyst,” Afeeni Islam equates as he frankly admits in his story, “I like money.” Money has an anthropological factor to it, it builds culture.
We all want to not just make ends meet; we’d love luxury. We’d love the option to be the prodigal son or daughter. But as every story rightly questions, does that fetch us true happiness?
Comments are closed