The Dollar Phenomenon: Below or Above the Dollar?

When I was in the land of many bananas, I noticed a lot of differences from back home. The land in question is Uganda. I noticed, for instance, that my appetite was directly proportional to the thickness of my wallet, or its weight, depending on the unit you prefer. In times of despair, like I had come to call those times when my wallet was dry (and O how they came at an irritating frequency), any food at my disposal tasted like manna to me. But in the good times I had a peculiar appetite for expensive things and in such times, I would end up hating what I was actually brought up on. In other words I would become another self, not me. My background was not the type that allowed me to have the good times frequently. Rather, my good times came in small measures. My face therefore only shone a few months out of twelve. The rest I lived below the dollar, the legendary dollar. I say legendary for there is not a currency that has ever dominated the world as the dollar has done. Your wealth is therefore determined by the amount of bucks you spend on a daily basis, no matter what your currency is: pesos, drachmas, or shillings. Note therefore that your wealth or poverty does not depend on how many pesos you spend or not spend in a day but rather by the amount of dollars. You are regarded as poor if you are living below the dollar, and some cents, a day.

Back to the land of many bananas. I did not limit myself to the dollar when I got the money. I spent more that the said dollar and as a result shopkeepers became friendly at such times, when they had my custom most. This does not make me a spendthrift or what they say parts with his money. The span of good times did not last that long and soon I would be in my world; the world that me and more than half the world's population lives in.

It would be stupid of me to complain about the world I lived in. I remember Big Willy said something to the effect of, “Do not be afraid of money, some are born with money, some achieve money, while some have money thrust upon them (or was it 'greatness'?)”. I know, however, that I belong to that class that Big Willy did not have in mind. I was not born with money; it was not a thing I had achieved, nor was it was thrust upon me (and who could? In that miserable family tree to which I was a member?). The only thing I was sure of, no matter how long it would take to realise that, was that I was going to get it. Yes, of that I was almost sure.

Come what may, I was going to prove to my neighbours that ours was not a family tree that could just be cut down without any loss. In that tree there was going to be somebody who could comfortably spend at least three dollars a day, or more daily. That person, I hope to be. Like they say: So help me God.

©kimannpaul@yahoo.com 2011