My wife came with a dowry. When I asked her about it, the rationale she gave was that it's a bit like child support and a bit like insurance. It's like child s

My wife came with a dowry. When I asked her about it, the rationale she gave was that it's a bit like child support and a bit like insurance. It's like child support in that her parents wanted to be sure that her needs were met, and the money can be used directly for that. It's like insurance in that if her health declines or for any other reason I start to view her as a burden, I'm agreeing to keep caring for her anyway rather than divorcing her. They're paying for that. (I have no idea how much the dowry was -- I just handed her the envelope and she deposited it in her own accounts. I'm an American and accepting a dowry of course seemed weird and foreign, but she insisted that declining it would be improper.)