Since returning to New York, I have been taking teeny, tiny steps to understand the vibe and culture that currently exists in this fair state. I realize that after Nine Eleven, the New York I once knew no longer existed.
As I went about my work duties and daily tasks, I began surmising that there have been numerous persons from the Midwest region that have decided to make New York their home. For the most part, it is not a big deal. In retrospect, New York has always been a melting pot and different energies bring unique qualities to this city.
As one of my sisters would say, the more the merrier. Although most of us consider the Midwest states to be Chicago, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri, I am discovering there has been an influx of wealthy Midwesterners who have flocked to the area from places such as Naperville, Indiana, Arlington Heights, Illinois, and Fishers, Indiana.
Some of these persons relocate here with a superior attitude in the sense that they feel that almost everything and everyone is for sale. They are also trying to change the paradigm regarding who has and who has not.
After a long and keen analysis of their modus operandi, I am inclined to believe that some of the racial tensions and socio-economic issues that have flared in the past few years may be due to their involvement.
Let me explain. Their need to interpret the world around them into their monetary language is causing mutiny and dissension among New Yorkers. They might be the ones putting labels on everyone they do not understand or things that have been long-standing.
They are able to do this because as we all know New York has been one of those towns where money talks and BS walks. As they say in Jamaica, “If you have enough money, you run tings, tings nuh run you.”
In a positive way, they have brought some of their traditional family views and suburban living to the metropolis. In other ways their thought patterns about how minorities and other alternative groups should be perceived is kind of unsettling.
I once had a newly transposed midwestern woman, who seemed well-heeled approach me at the market. I was buying tons of peppers to make my sauces. At first, I was very open by indulging her in the questions she had about how I used the various peppers. I informed her that it was a ritual I engaged in due to my sauce business.
The next thing she said floored me, “She proceeded to ask me if I would cook for her. Not as a caterer but as hired help.”
I looked at her stunned and quizzical and told her I had to go see about an appointment. I am sure she could have been a “Menard” of the Wisconsin’s Menards’ wealth but in my own right I felt I was the Royal Euro-Caribbean Princess of the meshugge land of Wood and Water.
I felt that she was being so assuming and ridiculous that I could not even spare the few minutes to correct her error. It is not that I think domestic endeavors are lowly. I just feel that individuals who enjoy being ostentatious with their wealth should not assume the entire population is there to serve them.
This is the difference between American wealth and Euro-J wealth. Most of the time a Jamaican could be filthy rich, and you would never know until the occasions arise for revelations.
On occasion, I cook for friends and family. However, in those moments it is a labor of love for me. I do not associate the task as me lowering myself or standards. For me, this is how the phrase, “I love you like cook food” comes alive.
Also, if a wealthy Islander is going to offer you an opportunity, most of the time it is a position to seriously elevate you in life. They are not going to assume that because you have a hint of color or look a certain way that you belong in a kitchen or should be conducting menial tasks.
Lately, it appears that New York is wreaking with stinking thinking. I don’t want to have to go into a long soliloquy about the fact that at any given moment if I were to descend upon my island I would be waited on by numerous household and other staff employed by my family.
I do not expect people to assume that because I am not dripping in diamonds and constantly clad in designer wear that I am a bottom-dweller either. I have lived a certain way so that I can elude the persons with evil intentions.
I have nothing to prove to anyone at this stage of my life. I certainly do not expect people to take liberties with me as they say in Jamaica. I have lived the high life, the in between life, and the bohemian life, and at the end of the day it is all the same.
I am confident that even at my age I have yet to experience many more levels of wealth that not even my imagination could fathom. I am from an ancestral background that does not believe in throwing wealth around or using it to keep people down.
The bible tells us to be humble with our blessings because if we are not good stewards with what he blesses us with it can quickly dwindle away. At this point of my life, I do not feel the need to keep up with the Joneses, because most are in hock and in debt.
All the young girls coming up who feel their life is over if they do not have a $5000 pocketbook like their peers, are de-valuing themselves. I say stop it. You do not know what those other girls are doing to keep up with fashion and labels.
For instance, the young woman who sold her virginity for a designer bag. I get the fact that New York is a see and be seen city. In my youth, I played the game to the hilt. Now I know what I am worth, I am not even trying to get jalapeno in anyone’s world but my own.
The friends I currently have, know who and what I am all about. The ones to come will either like me for being me or they can hit the road, Jack.
But no one gets to determine who or what I should be because I do not play their supercilious, phony games or put on a grand show. Corona came and shut down the world and it did not matter whether or not one had expensive gadgets or were maintaining images.
In my Middle Ages, I am starting a movement where folks should be comfortable being themselves whether or not they are keeping consumerism going. Ever wonder why so many retailers are going out of business at rapid rates recently?
That is because people have been living on credit for so long and then Corona came messing up the cash flow and the “prosperity” came to a screeching halt.
Most of the people who shop till they drop are doing so on credit. I am sure the cash customers are far and few between. In a pandemic, it is the ones who built lives on fantasies that have the most difficult times.
The truth is not even real millionaires and billionaires are as frugal as some regular folks with their money. They may buy a few expensive toys here and there but for the most part, they sock it all away for a rainy day.
Look at the ones who have endured lasting success and consistent financial gains, and you will realize that they live quite modestly. Wealth is for being philanthropical and making lasting changes in society. Not lording it over people or using it as a means to cut people down to size.
Fighting For My Life Memoir 