 For several days I was arguing with myself over a line I heard in a movie. A guy was accusing the woman of having this one unique luxury: being able to live dependent upon a man, whereas men would never be able to do the opposite. This argument, actually, sounded very funny to me at first. However, I then decided that I was going respond to the argument with such a brilliant counterpoint that it would blow people's minds. I would even write the writer of the movie and tell him how wrong I thought he was (I said "he", because I do believe the writer is a guy whose wife lives dependent upon him).
One might ask why I would have a problem with an argument that benefits me. For the sake of fairness, I counterattacked myself. As you can guess, it is not that easy to answer a question you ask yourself. We inevitably ignore the possibility of being wrong since we can only see things from our own perspective (Please don't take me to be one of those guys who blame humanity for anything bad). So far, I have been taught that there were so many luxuries men enjoyed that women could not. This abnormality has always sounded very normal to me as opposed to that "unique luxury" mentioned at the very top.
Looking for a suitable specimen to prove that writer's hypothesis wrong, I have overlooked the simplest source (Swedish scientists posit that's a common problem among scientists). Eventually I realized the best example was my mother. She is a woman who many people depend on. I grew up in a family where the father is responsible for earning the money, and the mother is left with the rest. At first, the most difficult part seems to be earning the money, spending may even sound very funny at all. But stop there!
Many of us live in dormitories or rent their own apartments. In each case, most students somehow have extra money to spend and have more responsibilities than they are used to. I'm a relatively good guy with housework. At least, I thought I was. But when you live alone, you have an abnormal increase in your own mess. Remember when you got to the market for the first time, with that money in your pocket, which will probably be the highest you will ever get from your father, you noticed that unstoppable desire in yourself to buy everything and try different cuisines. But you forgot a few things: You had to wash all these vegetables, chop them and then cook them. Add up the mess you created to that, and now you know how it is to be a mother. After a while, you realize that it isn't as easy as the first time to get money from your father. He doesn't seem to be as generous as he was before, like he was saying "goodbye" to you at the terminal when you first left home. The terms of the business arrangement have changed. Now you are expected to produce extra output, like a B+ graded calculus midterm to get any money at all. That seems like the exact definition of a job to me, which makes you a father. Given that you were already a student, you now have to deal with these three sub-characters at once. And here comes the question: Which of these characters would you not want to be? (The easiest question you have ever been asked)
This is the case in my family, in fact this applies to many of your families out there as well. A mother isn't someone who lives dependent upon her husband, she definitely isn't (I sound feminist, don't I?). Having proved a good point, I feel as if a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Don't worry; I will leave the director alone, but I do need to call my mother.
By Cüneyt Yılmaz ( ECON/II )
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