economic heartburn
With every Wall Street crash, happy couples clash and those sad lonely singles have had to resort to food, again. We’re all out of love.
I haven’t smelt roses in six months. The last thing the boy gave me was the remote and even that’s dependent upon conditions. Everywhere I look girls bleed frowns and swing bare wrists in the wind. Lonely tears drop but are desiccated by the Visa bill. The naked silk lining of our purse is the symmetrical emptiness of our hearts. Someone give the economy some anti-depressants; we want to be loved again.
It’s undeniably egocentric, I know, who would compare one’s happiness to the current state of their, or their lover’s bank account. But, nothing warms a girl’s heart like a pretty little gift and love has become known to encourage this altruistic giving. Most importantly, love-gifts beget a rise from feminine despondency and make us feel, well, loved.
Lets face it; we’re poor. Some of us have six dollars to last us til next Tuesday. Our phone bills are backing up and the old saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ doesn’t work when your draws are over flowing with second and third notices for the electricity bill. The attempts of Labor to boost the economy obviously aren’t working. Forget the past sullied attempts of KRudd to increase our spending with his ingenious stimulus package in 2009. All that reminded me of was the wiry old man that used to hang on my street corner handing candy out to kids. It’s sweet while it lasts.
Still on the periphery of the economic crisis, crime rates have gone up in the last year, which has meant; increased robberies, break and enters and car theft while merchant spending has more than gone down. So, not only am I getting my Karen Walker sunnies stolen from my Astra late one night, but inevitably, there is no equilibrium for me and now I have burnt retinas and no chocolates to bury my sorrows in.
Does love really come with these conditions? Are we letting the economy dictate everything in our lives from what brand of shampoo we buy to how we might avoid meeting potential suitors for lack of funds. It has gotten so bad that some girls have actually started a scouting system. Some girls stay in at night while their friends go out and find appropriate men for them, all because they can’t afford to keep going out every weekend but still want the love and cuddles they feel they deserve.
Where’s the surprise Tuesday night dates, the good morning breakfasts? We’ve resorted to post-it notes and left over lasagna. With all this tight handedness right now, you can be damn well sure that nobody’s getting their package stimulated.
It’s because there’s a certain cycle occurring. We’re all caught on Struggle Street on our way to the bank. We’re unhappy because our boyfriends don’t seem to love us, sad because they can’t afford to have us as girlfriends. They spent their nine hundred economy boosting dollars on a new sector nine skateboard. In turn, we spent ours on Guylian Chocolates, vino and cheese to suppress the sadness. We got fat from it, we got drunk from it and some of us got acne. We got fired for turning up to work hammered and our flab busting out of our zippers. We got evicted from our inner city apartments because we couldn’t pay the rent. After all that, our boyfriends dumped us for a thin sober girl that spent her nine hundred on a new treadmill. That treadmill only boosted the fitness and health industry, which I can’t afford, but now desperately need—thanks to vino and cheese—to get into.
And it’s a sad but very true reality that money can affect us, and our relationships, in such a way. That if your boyfriend doesn’t have a job then it immediately impedes on the way we feel about them and the consequences that come from it. It’s superficial isn’t it? But, it places restrictions on what you can do and how you can do it. Perhaps it’s just a retreat into custom gender roles. We want security; we want to be looked after. We want to know that the man we’re with is a man we can rely on and gifts and financial stability subconsciously tell us this. It tells us that this man can provide for you and, better yet, wants to provide for you.
In the end, I guess the most profitable goal should be a partner that is trying to be the best person they can be, in the most organic way possible, for whomever they’re with. We all have expectations and should probably assess whether or not they are realistic. So, now I feel bad for our poor old rotting economy. The last man she dated totally drilled her into a deficit. Hopefully now she’ll get the love and care she deserves, and we’ll allow her a little time to wallow too.
– Brittany Waller
(Image credits: 1)
