I feel for the brothers who date young women thinking they are loved yet in reality they have been turned into an Automated Teller Machine (ATMs). Some young women have turned their partners into wealth providers instead of working hard and gaining their material desires. In many ways women have been given the same opportunities as men in order to make ends meet but it’s sad that some women believe that they can’t make it in life without dating or getting married to the wealthiest man around town. It’s because of this that some young women have settled into dating wealthy married men, leaving single, hardworking men out of the picture. A few weeks ago, I overheard a conversation between five young women in their late twenties that left me agog in amazement. I was partly to blame because I listened to things I had no right listening to, but what was disheartening was that the young women, who obviously cared less about who heard them, spoke at the top of their voices. One of the girls narrated her escapades with married men and attributed the house and the car she owned to the different relationships she has had with them. She said that she started extorting money and expensive jewellery way back when she was still in high school. She further went on to describe how she has blackmailed two married men, telling them that she was pregnant with their child and if they didn’t pay her she would expose them to their family and friends. She also said if she settled down and got married, it would be because the man was extremely wealthy. At first I thought she was trying to narrate scenes she had watched in a movie or soap opera until one of the young women, probably her best friend, confirmed the story. When I turned round to look at the young woman who was narrating, I felt like the world was crashing down on me because it was my primary school friend, Claire, who I had not seen in almost twelve years.  It was so shocking because she was the most innocent person I had known while in school. Being materialistic affects our character. We learn to trust in things, rather than the people around us, affecting your honesty or other virtues in the long run.