Money Defines My Culture
The Pakistani crowds in Dubai are based on the amount of money each family has. You’ll find the rich mixing with the rich, and only the rich. And even within this category, there are people who live in certain areas who won’t interact with others because of how ‘normal’ they are. Just because your house doesn’t cost as much as theirs, you are automatically assumed to be lower than them.
I remember interacting with certain family friends’ children, and being told that I had to dress a certain way, or talk about specific things, simply because these guys were ‘classier’ than us or had a different ‘vibe’ because they wear more designer. Imagine being in the same city, with people of the same ethnicity, but having to change your behaviour because of the amount of money they have… apparently that’s what culture is. Culture is no longer about traditions or myths, now it’s just about the number you’ve got in your bank account. And I think that’s absolutely fucked.
It’s not just about how much money, but also how you spend it. Recently I completed an internship where I was paid, and personally I wanted to save it for a rainy day in the future, to travel or even perhaps to invest it and one day buy a car or house with it. But the society I live in has no concept of this, apparently the best thing I should do is ‘spend it on making myself look better’ because that’ll attract a rich person to take me for marriage. The fact that this society is still stuck on things like money which matter completely baffles me. Why am I not allowed to invest into my future? How come I can only invest in my looks because ‘someone else should take care of my future’? And why do other people not find this as absurd? The fact that this system has gone on for this long and no one has fought it truly pisses me off.
As I’ve grown overtime, I try more and more to avoid situations with materialistic people. But it seems impossible when half of your immediate family is more conscious about what others will say about their physical appearance rather than their personality. While this is the case, I’ve learned from a mentor of mine, that the best thing you can do it keep quiet and only talk when spoken to. In most situations, pissing people off doesn’t make them understand your point, it just makes them go against you more. If people want to change, specifically their mentality, then that’s something that they have to push for on their own.
