How Much Money Do I Have to Make?

After five years overseas, I am now firmly planted in the United States. I'm old enough to realize that even making that statement means I should probably renew my passport, but for now I'm going to appreciate waking up in one of the world's societies that actually pays graduate students to talk about literature.


However, even before my recent return to formal studies, I spent many years talking about literature, sometimes to people who actually listened, with no compensation at all.


Is my opinion about literature worth more now that I am paid a monthly stipend? Am I worth more?


Yesterday, a student firmly expressed that a literary character discussed in his paper was no one, the member of no economic class, because she did not pursue economic gain when the opportunity arose. Although she was married to a prosperous farmer, had no financial need, and in no way appeared deficient in her role as the primary keeper of a household, this student maintained, "She didn't do anything!" I pressed for an explanation, and he clarified that she didn't make any money. "All she does is stay in that garden!" he said. I answered, "Yes, and probably cooks her husband's dinner and washes his shirts." But unaware, the student gleefully said, "Exactly! She doesn't do anything."


I was a military wife for seventeen years. When my army spouse and I divorced, he had a similar attitude. He was near eligibility for retirement and he planned to take his army check with him. "It's my money!" he said. "I earned it. You didn't do anything." I thought back to all the things I didn't do. Granted, I was never shot at, but then my spouse wasn't either (think "cold war.") However, I moved eleven times in sixteen years. I followed the same strident post regulations that the service members did. I led social gatherings, performed good-will duties to make a U.S. mililtary presence more palatable to a foreign community, and looked over my shoulder while I lived O-CONUS for portions of both gulf wars.

However, unlike my interaction with the student writer yesterday, I didn't argue with my ex-husband. I didn't have to. By federal law I receive half of the portion of his retirement check earned while we were married. The money comes directly from the U. S. government in acknowledgment of all those things I didn't do.