Money Weirdness

picture from http://naijas.com/

Hey guys, how was your weekend? I hope you were all able to rest well. Let's start the week with a little money talk, shall we? First, let's go back to those good old days when you had no care in the world, or at least, no serious care. Do you remember? Do you remember when you thought 5 bucks could buy everything you wanted in the world? My youngest nephew was recently given a cash gift for coming out top of his class. First, he was a little confused, given that he was expecting a toy or even candy and then it seemed like realization dawned on him that he finally had money (he's 4); something he was told too often wasn't available when he made silly requests. His dad came in a few minutes later and he ran to him showing him his cash gift "daddy daddy uncle gave me money, now I can buy anything I want". Awwh, how naive right? Sometimes, that's just bliss. The innocence of a child is adorably pure and peaceful. 

I'm sure many of us have had that feeling many times in the past. Then, money wasn't a big deal. Even when our parents would tell us there's no money for this or that, it is soon forgotten and soon enough a new request is up. My nephew (same one) would tell us - his aunties, that his dad will buy us anything we want, this is even in the dad's absence. You know the confidence we just had in our superhero fathers that they could provide anything and if you notice, the "there's no money" line is usually dished out by the mothers. These our fathers ehn! That was how much regard we had for money. Something that was just available from God knows where that was used to get whatever we wanted; that was money- something to be used. The source never mattered, we just knew it would come, if you wanted to try find out they'd tell you it was from the bank. 

Today, we know better. Yes, money is to be used, but first it is to be made. How it is to be made depends on you, the options are limitless. My question today is this; when did money talk become an awkward conversation? Today "friends" can't talk about money, even siblings! I can't understand it. It's like a forbidden topic. It is considered rude to ask about someone's salary and I don't mean just someone, even people referred to as friends. When did this become so and why? Did we just notice that it was happening and get with the crowd or were there some societal forces gradually pushing us towards this direction over the years till we didn't realize what had become?

If the latter is the case, could we consider some points as the societal forces responsible for this sad change? I say sad because, really, that is what it is. Imagine that you can talk to your friend about anything but when the topic of money comes in, you stiffen up, you get uncomfortable and look for a means to switch to another topic. It's crazy. I see this happen and I'm so grateful for the friends and family I have because we can talk about all of this very comfortably; be it when we are down and broke or feeling rich with whatever we have. We can comfortably laugh with and at one another when need be; *sigh*! Could this be attributed to your care for status in the society (or your bubble of friends/acquaintances), keeping an image, shame, discontent, greed/selfishness?

Do you place high importance on how you are viewed by society? Is it so important to have a big boy/girl status to the point where you cannot ever talk about being broke and laugh about financial tough times with close pals? Why is that? Are you ashamed of your financial status and believe it is too embarrassing to talk about with close pals? Some people have so much yet are not contented, hence feel like a failure and so the money topic is too depressing to discuss. Are you among those who don't talk about money so others don't start to feel comfortable around you to ask for financial help? You feel that when they know you earn this huge salary, they'll bring all their money problems to you and you don't want that. Please help me out guys, why can't we just relax and talk about money? Why do people get weird when the topic of money comes up?

Do you have or know someone who has the money weirdness fever? What's the cause, symptoms and treatment? Is it hereditary? You know the drill, let's meet you on the other side. Lots of love.