DENNIS JOSEPH WEEKLY: The journey of a five dollar bill

Dennis Joseph

How the money is made, or where it comes from is of little interest  to us, just place it in  our hand and its ‘home sweet home.”   But the five dollar bill which is our lowest value paper bill has been to places that would make us shudder if only we knew.   Paper money is made when engravers cut bill designs on a steel plate.  The bill design goes to a printing plate on a printing press to be printed on special paper and that is how the journey of a five-dollar bill crisp and pure like a virgin without blemish begins but it does not stay  unblemished for long.

Let us follow this brand new fiver the bank teller  paid out  to a customer who is one of the many who are passionate radio protesters but never show up for a street protest.  The radio protester kept sniffing the smell of newness of the five dollar bill all the way to a fried chicken shop leaving family to “Pray for real nutritious food, God is good.”   The  chicken shop owner with that   five-dollar bill  buys fish from a passing vendor who jams the fiver into a  tin can  picked  up from a stinky blocked  gutter in Roseau where it had been deliberately discarded by an uncaring passerby.

The fiver is now covered with fish scales and smelly water but ends up in the hands of the bread shop sales clerk where the fishmonger buys her  bread.  The bread shop owner is a fanatical supporter of a political party and makes a donation.  The party secretary   simply hands the bill to a bothersome supporter with too many children who needs it to buy milk at the supermarket.  The supermarket cashier shoves it in among the other fivers in the cash register which have come in from all and sundry  sick or healthy et al, and then gives it out as part of a transaction to a civil servant who should be at work but slipped away to buy another bottle of the finest champagne she cannot afford for her friend’s birthday party.  The civil servant  spends it in  the rich man’s store to buy something she does not need and the rich man hands it to his son for pocket change who promptly  buys drugs with it from a dealer who loses it somewhere.

A stray dog finds it however and the mangy starving ‘man’s best friend’ drools over it moving aside as an unseeing shoe steps on it leaving traces of street dirt, then the  sharp eye of a street beggar saves the face of the Queen from the walking sneakers and slippers everybody uses nowadays.  The beggar who though a few moments past was sorrowfully asking  for a ‘coin to buy a bread’ now with ‘ the dirty fiver in hand’ heads for the rum shop to buy a drink.

The life of the poor and outcast who drown their sorrows in drink, is fertile ground for those who wish to exploit them whilst hardship wreaks havoc on them.  When they find themselves enriched by a five dollar bill they feel that they have arrived and will spend it with an air of making a statement to all those who have been putting them down.

This is an attitude that makes every rum shop owner happy and every politician with money feel some joy because vote buying becomes so cheap and easy. This rum shop owner takes the bill, lodges it among others in the bank, and the five dollar bill, crushed, filthy, soiled and perhaps even a “little drunk” (HA HA) is counted in by  the expensively dressed bank teller who is so happy for being chosen for the job but whose perfumed fingers are already turning black from the corruption of the dirty money bills.

In a way money is a great unifier, for we are all united in purpose with a passion for finding it wherever it may take us and as fast as we possibly can.  It has not however been called the “Root of all evil” for nothing, because it uses people and turns the minds of even the most mild into cauldrons of conflict and ferment.  Money they say is like seawater, the more you drink the thirstier you get.

The honest pastor becomes a seeker of expensive birthday gifts from his congregation, the accountant steals from his employer, the merchant overprices his goods and the politician cannot believe how lucky God has made him or her to be in control of the treasury.

When people cannot find employment and that precious five dollar bill becomes more and more out of reach then the breakdown begins- of mind, soul and body and of course principles.   In our Caribbean all the governments are talking about youth indiscipline but  if we continue to hear of  large numbers of dollar bills covertly moving through high places and sudden wealth to those in higher places, then the moral authority to correct disappears and though people generally do what those in authority tell them to, they also follow what those in authority seem to get away with, be it right or wrong and that five dollar bill may go to places that not only make us shudder but will collapse our principles as well.

As you read another five dollar bill is getting ready to leave the bank on its journey.

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15 Comments

  1. T mama
    September 20, 2012

    and the evil man pays a FIVE dollar to the Child for a piece…ahhhhhh….Dennis Brillant..

  2. ROSEAU VALLEY
    September 20, 2012

    As a student of catholic school, I learnt that the love of money is the root of all of evil. Some people are simply greedy, cravers of money, who have wandered from their beliefs and faith, finding themselves in terrible circumstances and grief.

    The bible speaks of this in 1st Timothy 6:10 but as you know those with their own agenda always challenge the conventional thinking and put forward a varying interpretation to justify their claims.

    The modern prosperity preachers have challenged the common understanding of the biblical expression. To some extent, I concur with their interpretation as it does not necessarily contravene long established religious doctrines and beliefs. It appears to be consistent with the other parts of the Christian constitution –the bible.

    They argue that money is not bad but it is the craving and worshiping of money and what it can do that is bad. As the saying goes-money, like technology, is spiritually neutral. It can be used for good or evil but it is the motive for the use and desire of money that gives an indication of its roots. A pure motive will always bear positive fruits. But whenever money and glory are pursued and craved for the wrong reason(s), the outcome bound to be disastrous. I agree.

    There are some of us who have lived a long life and who have had a very successful career but still we cannot seem to retire in peace. We want more power, status, more money, more property and more wealth. Our bank accounts are overflowing with reserves, we are still evil because of something else like the need for power, fulfilment of dreams, hidden ambitions, intemperance, corrupting lusts, and/or simply the hatred of godliness or what is good and right.

    The things that honourable men and women among us would do for the love of money! They would steal that dirt $5 from the farmers, teachers, nurses and children. They would violate our constitution. They cheat the treasury of the $5 that they’re expected to pay on their land transfer taxes and then depend on the same stinky $5 to ensure that they get their fat salaries and excessive travel allowances and then to buy the votes to remain in power and to continue stealing more $5 from the people who vote them in.

    Many are convinced that the accumulation and possession of many, smelly $5s is an indication of God’s blessings on their life no matter from which filthy sewer that money is pulled from. They are the powerful men and women, who have lost their integrity, conscience and soul to the devil, while the majority remains lost and poor. Some boast of their wealth, others stash their wealth even while professing to be God fearing believers, guilty of not making the distinction between the love of money and money itself.

    We know that God, is not anti-money, or anti-wealth. He is anti-money craving and worshiping, He is anti greed and corruption and opposed to those who would do whatever it takes to accumulate wealth and power by any means necessary.- that is the kind of evil that is bred from money. But like the prosperity preachers say, we are children of God and we should be healthy, wealthy, and wise in this world as a testimony of the greatness, power, and glory of God.

    You always succeed in raising the level of our consciousness. A very good piece!

    Respectfully
    Roseau Valley

  3. LATITUDED810
    September 20, 2012

    the LOPS – LOST OF POWER SYNDROME continues, what about a piece on DR.Ettiene i guess that is above your level.well accourding to the Eastern carribben Central bank the five dollar bill once issued from the bank is legal tender so what one does with it is their business not yours stop pointing fingers because four is pointing back at you.

  4. Observer
    September 20, 2012

    Very thought provoking piece.I like the prose and the style. the use of words is soemthing that always catches my attention. I could nothave doen it better than Denis.

    But in keeping with Denis’ constant finger pointing of wrong doings at the foot of the government led by PM Skerrit, I was rather surprised that he could not trace the dirty, smelly, unhealthy and crumpled up five dollars bill did into the pocket of the PM’s custom made Hong Kong suit or neatly bundled up for distribution to an unsuspecting “trough feeder” in the “Red Clinic”.

    But I like his writings nevertheless

  5. happy chick
    September 20, 2012

    oh how this made my day.this is the real life of the 5 dollar bill.

  6. POSITIVELY DOMINICAN
    September 20, 2012

    Genius at work……A masterpiece! An intriguing read!

  7. 4u2C
    September 20, 2012

    I look forward in reading your articles Mr. Joseph because you are so good in making the things we take for granted so intriguing,critical and important for our survival within the society we live ……

    Love It! Another Brilliant piece!

  8. Anonymous
    September 20, 2012

    Superb writing Dennis..great allegory…lovely metaphors.

  9. african
    September 20, 2012

    Quite interesting. The facts presented are so true.

  10. islandman
    September 20, 2012

    Great article…Your writing skill is excellent…..

  11. Marcus Hill
    September 20, 2012

    Brilliant!! Simply Brilliant!!

  12. Me
    September 20, 2012

    I truly enjoyed this piece.

  13. Gigg-la
    September 20, 2012

    I look forward to reading your articles this is a great piece of literature and sets the tone for debates

  14. Pawol
    September 20, 2012

    Interesting. My sister always pays for fish with the exact amount cause according to her “she does not want any fisherman money”….lol

    • boulay
      September 20, 2012

      why she eats their goods but dont like their changeSTRANGE :mrgreen:

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