Most female friends I have met believe that the family is the center of their lives. They try their best to help their husbands be successful in their careers; they live frugally to let the children have better lives. They sacrifice themselves for the family because they believe that is what a good wife is supposed to do.

I respected those friends and share the same belief. I have never had any doubts with this belief until recently…..

I met a well-respected scholar at a party holding a young wife but I just attended his ex-wife’s funeral not long ago.

I met a successful entrepreneur abroad who traveled with a young attractive woman while his wife stayed home looking after the kids.

More and more similar stories arouse. They were just like soap operas with the same scenarios.

The wives became old and boring after working like a hell to help their husbands to achieve their goals in the life. Even though the husbands were also old and boring, but there were always young women surrounding them. Those women were not comparable with their wives in terms of the intelligence or knowledge. However, they were young and sweet. They snuggled in the old men’s arms like cats and they looked into the old men’s eyes like they were heroes.

I started feeling sorry for those wives who never had chance to enjoy their lives. They had no choice but to allow the young women to replace them and enjoy the fruit of their hard work. It is very ironic that men enjoy their lives while women suffer. However, this is man’s world. What can we say as women?

Bih-Hua Chen
September 12, 2010