There is no servitude as chocking as when we are our own slave drivers. When we become our own wardens and imprison ourselves, hope for release from our slavery is indeed slim.
Such is the case for Kevin Fernandez, who boasts he'll do whatever it takes to make sure his family is happy and healthy -- even if that means never taking a day off from work.
You heard it right; this man slave-drives himself seven days a week with not one day off.
And you probably also guessed it; he has a wife and two children. And, as is common with many Hispanic and Italian men, he sees it as some twisted badge of honor to keep his wife in the house while he is out working on their early widow- and orphan-hood.
"For Fernandez, his family is top priority. His wife is a stay-at-home mom who cares for their two young children, and he says that her getting a job is not an option."
Real smart. In an age when – unless you’re a CEO or some other senior level executive – it's impossible to raise a family on just one income, this guy still desperately clings to the sexist idea that he alone should be the family earner – an idea that was rendered impossible 50 years ago in this country. You can also be sure he manages the money and doles out allowances to his wife.
And Fernandez doesn’t stop there:
"I won't let things get worse. If I have to get a third job, or try to sell some stuff, like my record collection, I'm going to do whatever I need to do to make sure we keep our house and our babies are fed and my wife is happy," he said. "If [the economy] gets worse, I'm not going to let it affect my family. You do whatever it takes to provide for your family"
A recipe for disaster. I give this guy 10 years until his first heart attack, ulcer, or cancer diagnosis. Hopefully he’s taken an hour out of his slavish 24/7 walking ATM routine to get a good insurance policy – his wife is gonna need that money to hit the gym and do a makeover for husband number two when Fernandez croaks.
Here’s another profile in slavery:
"Aaron Hash is another father doing what he has to do to care for his child, and for him, like Fernandez, that includes working seven days a week. Hash has worked two jobs ever since graduating high school in 2006. His daughter was born in April of that year, and though he does not live with her, he's been supporting her ever since"
Great. Forking over the money and not even seeing the kid. Again, a walking ATM on his way to an early death.
"Hash works 40 hours a week in sales at an electrical distributor. He then puts in another 20 to 25 hours working at a high-end speaker store. Like Fernandez, he's glad that he was able to find and keep two jobs. He even sees an extra benefit in it: He can save more money because never taking a day off means he has less free time to spend it."
"I told myself the more I work, the less time I have to spend money. If I wasn't working every weekend, I would be out blowing money at bars like most guys my age do," he said. "I don't regret working so much. I look at being able to have two jobs as a blessing, because in today's world some people can't even find one."
And one of those jobs they can't find is the second job you're hogging, Aaron.
"Hash said he's not sure how long it will be before he's able to take weekends off, but for now, he definitely doesn't see himself quitting his part-time gig anytime soon. 'I enjoy the feeling know[ing] I am supporting my daughter and supporting myself with out any help,' he said."
And this sucker, like Fernandez, doesn't even live with the daughter he's supporting. You can be sure he's not getting receipts back to show his money is being spent only on his daughter and not on his wife's shoes, vacations, and healthclub fees.
We are all of us human beings, not machines. When men start acting in the psychotic way that Hernandez and Nash have fallen to, they are killing themselves as surely as if they put a gun in their mouth and pulled the trigger.
None are so imprisoned as they who enslave themselves.