My
family lived with my paternal grandmother. My mother was always scolded by my
grandmother. My grandmother said to my mother, “You spend too much money!” “You
are not good at shopping!” “You have to learn to make ends meet!”
My mother had hard feelings about that even
after my grandmother’s death. My mother sometimes complained that “she didn’t
know it was because of inflation.”
When I was a baby, Japan experienced a period
of inflation. In 1970, the average first monthly payment for someone who
graduated from a university was $111. In those days, most women didn’t have an
income. In other words, a family could live on that income. Only 17% of people
could study at university. Those were lucky people. They could have nice
lifestyles with that income.
My grandmother didn’t watch news programs. She
didn’t read newspapers. She didn’t go shopping. She didn’t have information
about inflation. That why she thought her son had married a stupid woman.
History repeats itself.
For a few weeks, my wife was busy at work. So,
I went shopping to buy everyday items. I paid for those from my pocket money
and kept the receipts. After that, my wife would give me the money from our
family budget. She summed up the receipts and screamed, “That is too expensive!
You cooked the receipts!”
She started inspecting the receipts. She tried
to find out if I had bought some stupid items using our family budget. I am a
stupid man. Of course, I sometimes buy some stupid items, like cigarettes. But
I don’t spend our family money on stupid items.
My wife checked all the receipts. She never
found any stupid items on the receipts. I was innocent, as I had insisted to
her.
Now, inflation is happening all around the
world. It causes strife for many families everywhere.
I heard that in the 1970s, the same thing
happened. As a result, there was a wage increase. But wage increases are always
too late.
We need to do our best to survive.
Proofreading
by Claire ProofreadingServices.com
Picture
by Gugu
No comments:
Post a Comment