This
was Sal's last appointment of the day and she was meeting with Mr.
Sylar Miller. Mr. Miller was a professor of engineering at the
university. He had five wives and he was having relationship problems
with them. He just did not know how to juggle so many wives, not to
mention the financial burden that comes with it!
"Hello, Sal! How are you doing?"
"Hey, Sylar! I am doing great! Are you ready for Christmas?"
"No, I do not even want to think about Christmas! I have not even started any of my shopping yet! How can I think about that when I am barely getting by financially! Plus, I am having problems with my wives. The women are fighting with each other and they are blaming me for all of it. It is like they are jealous when I go off with another wife and that is when all the drama starts. I guess they just want me for themselves!"
"What do you do when they start with all the jealousy? Do you say anything to them?"
"I tell them that there is no point in being jealous. I have to remind them that I love them all equally and I would not have it any other way!"
"You know, Sylar, you are my only patient who is in a polygamist marriage. I am all for men and women to love freely, and I want to give you the tools so that you can have a long, happy marriage! I want to tell you a story about this woman who was married to five men, but what made it worse was that they were all brothers! Her name was Draupadi. Originally, Draupadi thought she was getting married to Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers. When Arjuna came home he told his mother he had won something and without looking she told him to share it with his four brothers, because that was what they did. They shared everything! Little did she know that it was a woman. He agreed with his mother and so all the brothers shared Draupadi. At first, she was in shock, but her father approved of it. The brothers arranged it to where Draupadi would stay with one brother for so many days and this way they would rotate her. They also agreed that no one would get jealous of another brother. Therefore, the brothers did not get jealous and all lived in harmony for the most part."
"Yeah, that is a little strange that she was married to all five brothers! At least my wives are not sisters! But I am not sure my wives will want to do that."
"Okay. You all can do it a little different. I mean you do not have to rotate wives every year! You can rotate on certain days. First, I think maybe you should have certain days where you take one wife on a date, so that they will feel extra special! As for the other two days, you can enjoy it with all five of your wives. This way they all feel united as a big family and hopefully the jealousy will cease. Also, the most important advice I can give you is to communicate with all your wives! Do not be afraid to confide in them or vice-versa. As long as everyone is aware of the problem then you all can continually progress forward. Does that sound like a plan?"
"That is a great idea! I think my wives will love this and I cannot wait to tell them! What about my financial issues? Can I afford to go on dates with my wives every week....???"
"See, the great thing about dates is that they do not have to cost any money. For instance, you could go to the park or go for a long walk. If you want to go to the movies, you could go to the dollar theatre. You need to readjust your budget and cut out things that are not a necessity! Save as much money as you can every month. Also, keep in mind that getting out of your financial crisis will take a few years. We will talk more about that next time."
"Thanks, Sal! See you next week."
"Bye. Good luck with all the dates!"
Author's Note: First, I wanted Draupadi to reincarnate into a man with five wives. I thought that having five wives made the marriage more difficult and more interesting at the same time! In the original versions (Buck's and Narayan's), the Pandava brothers are not jealous of one another and they are happy to share Draupadi. So in this story, I wanted the wives to be jealous of one another. Second, I wanted Mr. Miller to have financial problems. This made sense because afterall he was living on a teacher's salary and with five wives that would be an issue. Again, in the original versions (Buck's and Narayan's), both authors did not mention any financial strains, but they did mention giving a larger portion of food to Bhima. Third, I wanted the story of Draupadi to be short and so I left out a lot of details. Mainly, I wanted Sal to show Mr. Miller that even with multiple spouses jealousy does not have to exist among the spouses and they can still have a long meaningful marriage. I also wanted the last story to end more positive, especially for Sal. Also, I wanted this story to deal with a patient who did not have a serious problem like in the last story. Hope you enjoyed reading my storybook!
Bibliography:
Image 1- Polygamy? Website: Deviant Art.
Image 2- Polygamy. Website: Orato.
Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.
Narayan, R.K (1978). The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.
"Hello, Sal! How are you doing?"
"Hey, Sylar! I am doing great! Are you ready for Christmas?"
"No, I do not even want to think about Christmas! I have not even started any of my shopping yet! How can I think about that when I am barely getting by financially! Plus, I am having problems with my wives. The women are fighting with each other and they are blaming me for all of it. It is like they are jealous when I go off with another wife and that is when all the drama starts. I guess they just want me for themselves!"
"What do you do when they start with all the jealousy? Do you say anything to them?"
"I tell them that there is no point in being jealous. I have to remind them that I love them all equally and I would not have it any other way!"
"You know, Sylar, you are my only patient who is in a polygamist marriage. I am all for men and women to love freely, and I want to give you the tools so that you can have a long, happy marriage! I want to tell you a story about this woman who was married to five men, but what made it worse was that they were all brothers! Her name was Draupadi. Originally, Draupadi thought she was getting married to Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers. When Arjuna came home he told his mother he had won something and without looking she told him to share it with his four brothers, because that was what they did. They shared everything! Little did she know that it was a woman. He agreed with his mother and so all the brothers shared Draupadi. At first, she was in shock, but her father approved of it. The brothers arranged it to where Draupadi would stay with one brother for so many days and this way they would rotate her. They also agreed that no one would get jealous of another brother. Therefore, the brothers did not get jealous and all lived in harmony for the most part."
"Yeah, that is a little strange that she was married to all five brothers! At least my wives are not sisters! But I am not sure my wives will want to do that."
"Okay. You all can do it a little different. I mean you do not have to rotate wives every year! You can rotate on certain days. First, I think maybe you should have certain days where you take one wife on a date, so that they will feel extra special! As for the other two days, you can enjoy it with all five of your wives. This way they all feel united as a big family and hopefully the jealousy will cease. Also, the most important advice I can give you is to communicate with all your wives! Do not be afraid to confide in them or vice-versa. As long as everyone is aware of the problem then you all can continually progress forward. Does that sound like a plan?"
"That is a great idea! I think my wives will love this and I cannot wait to tell them! What about my financial issues? Can I afford to go on dates with my wives every week....???"
"See, the great thing about dates is that they do not have to cost any money. For instance, you could go to the park or go for a long walk. If you want to go to the movies, you could go to the dollar theatre. You need to readjust your budget and cut out things that are not a necessity! Save as much money as you can every month. Also, keep in mind that getting out of your financial crisis will take a few years. We will talk more about that next time."
"Thanks, Sal! See you next week."
"Bye. Good luck with all the dates!"
Author's Note: First, I wanted Draupadi to reincarnate into a man with five wives. I thought that having five wives made the marriage more difficult and more interesting at the same time! In the original versions (Buck's and Narayan's), the Pandava brothers are not jealous of one another and they are happy to share Draupadi. So in this story, I wanted the wives to be jealous of one another. Second, I wanted Mr. Miller to have financial problems. This made sense because afterall he was living on a teacher's salary and with five wives that would be an issue. Again, in the original versions (Buck's and Narayan's), both authors did not mention any financial strains, but they did mention giving a larger portion of food to Bhima. Third, I wanted the story of Draupadi to be short and so I left out a lot of details. Mainly, I wanted Sal to show Mr. Miller that even with multiple spouses jealousy does not have to exist among the spouses and they can still have a long meaningful marriage. I also wanted the last story to end more positive, especially for Sal. Also, I wanted this story to deal with a patient who did not have a serious problem like in the last story. Hope you enjoyed reading my storybook!
Bibliography:
Image 1- Polygamy? Website: Deviant Art.
Image 2- Polygamy. Website: Orato.
Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.
Narayan, R.K (1978). The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.