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the Cheshire Cat Chronicles
by R. C. (RCat) Arquette
Hindsight
 "Most human beings have an almost infinite
capacity for taking things for granted."
- Aldous Huxley
English critic & novelist (1894 - 1963)
I was looking through some prior writings the other day, a little
insight from my hindsight, and discovered the following piece.
It was written in August of 1989, I was 39 and thinking about
the day to day survival of myself and my family. The economy
and earning a living has been a constant and it's no different
today. It's now June of 2008 and I find myself with the same
thoughts. Here is what I was thinking then:
"What Price Tomorrow?"
I discovered recently that I am living
in Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World,' with the only difference
being that through economical manipulation, rather than the genetic
one of Huxley's classic story, we have created a society of class
bound drones.
Approaching forty years of age and facing
a career change, I am discovering a world that I really hadn't
been paying much attention to. I have struggled for the last
eight years to survive on what I felt was an inadequate wage.
It was rough at times, and I haven't been able to save a penny,
but I did get by. Now I'm confronted with a fifty percent cut
in pay, and I'm in shock.
I always felt I was providing well for
my family. I thought that economically, as we moved through life
things would improve, and I would be able to look forward to
seeing my kids through college, and enjoy a well earned retirement
in my 'golden years.' Well, surprise, surprise, it's a different
world out there brother!
I look at television, the poor mans drug,
that eye in my living room that allows me to instantaneously
see what 'those that have can get.' The continuous parade of
material goods pass my glazed eyes. Cars, camcorders, clothes,
vacations, all coming into focus for the first time. I really
have no use for items of this nature, but they do represent a
cross section of large ticket items that are bigger examples
of the 'basics of life.' Basics such as food, housing, medical
care, insurance, clothing, or a night at the movies, all have
likewise become unreachable to the lower class drones like myself.
Suddenly I'm frightened.
In 1959 my folks bought a new house for
$28,000. My father worked, he made about $120 a week as a salesman,
which at the time was damn good money. My mother stayed home
with my younger brother and myself. She was a 'homemaker,' and
there was no pressure for her to work outside the home.
I bought a house in 1984 for $65,000. I
was earning $385 a week full-time and $120 part-time. My wife
was home with the baby, in part because we felt that it was the
best thing to do from a nurturing standpoint, but also because
day care reads in this day and age like a horror story. If you
could find a center you felt good about, it not only has a waiting
list, but costs more a week than my wife could have cleared working
a full-time job.
Since that time we've lost the house, I'm
in the last semester of trying to belatedly graduate with an
AA degree from Community College, I've been 'laid off' from a
good paying job, I have no health insurance coverage on any of
us, we've moved twice to lower our rent payment, and I'm working
two jobs that pay me about $180 week. My wife has taken on sewing
jobs on the side to try and help out. I can't help but wonder
just what it is that awaits us next?
I guess it's obvious that I can fully sympathize
with those people out there who are struggling to keep it all
together. I'm sure there are stories even more bleak than mine,
but mine is the one I must live with. I analyze this situation,
and I wish that I'd been more attentive to making a buck, instead
of thumbing my nose at the 60's establishment , I should have
become a part of it; at least in theory. I also wish I'd stayed
on the path toward educating myself so that I might be looking
forward to a more secure retirement. Instead I find myself starting
all over again. A prospect, which with the economic situation
the way it is, and the direction it seems to be taking, I may
never see my goals come to fruition. All I can do is assume a
positive approach and push ahead.
My question would be, where does this all
stop? Who but the rich will be able to afford a five dollar loaf
of bread? Gasoline for three bucks a gallon? Medical care, day
care, a vacation to rest their tired bones all seem remote without
the income to back it all up.
The middle class is an endangered species,
rapidly disappearing. Yet, if history serves me right, it has
always been the middle class that initiated rapid social change
or civil wars in an aggressive attempt to hold onto their lives
and improve their plight. The rich, it seems, have no need for
such upheaval, they control the wealth, and the poor know no
better for they are to busy trying to survive. The poor end up
squeezed out, struggling against a shrinking middle class. It's
the middle class that will rise up and demand their share of
the pie, not so much a political stand as it is the historical
manner in which they made things happen. It would be nice to
think we'll never have to reach this point of desperation, but
history shows us differently.
Our elected officials need to set aside
party politics and personal gain to effect a lasting and just
change. We have the ability to live a more Utopian lifestyle
than we do, where all of us can live without the fear of hunger,
disease, and pain. It can be done. We need to reach the point
where we can live comfortable lives without having to pay for
it all with a life of economic slavery.
Your faithful reporter
- RCat
Who is this Guy RCat?
 R.
C. Arquette, "RCat" to friends and fellow writers,
is an aging hippie and practicing curmudgeon. He was dragged
into the world, kicking and screaming, back in the middle of
the last century; 1950 to be exact. His outburst clearly showed
his disdain for reality at the earliest of stages. He grew up
living in the sub-tropical splendor of the "Sunshine State,"
Florida, US of A, where he attended Jr. College and after twenty
years received his AA degree; what can I say, life kept getting
in the way.
Currently, his duties include
acting as the head of a family consisting of an overworked wife,
a vibrating teenaged son, and an over stimulated housecat. An
elder daughter resides at some distance with her own family;
a husband, two sons, and a daughter. As head of this merry band
of pranksters, the illusionary aspects of his carefree life are
played out on the stage of daily routine.
RCat is a self described "survivor,"
having lived through the "flower power" promises of
the 1960's with the goals of world peace, universal brotherhood,
free-love, and the legalization of certain organic herbs. Contrary
to what others might say, he can still remember parts of it quite
vividly. Sadly, those cosmic issues have now been reduced to
the cliché. He now, more realistically, understands the
world has gone quite mad and no longer cares to be a part of
the continuing descent into oblivion. The thought of putting
on a loincloth to venture forth and live out his days meditating
in a tall tree in a distant forest sounds appealing. Of course,
he isn't kidding himself. Chances are a noisy bunch of cretins
will quickly invade the tree next to him. Ah well, such is the
way of this planet we call home.
In the meantime, he scribbles
poetry, short stories, and essays, as well as a choppy stream
of drawings, cartoons and works of art. All done with a grin
as meditative mental therapy in an effort to hold onto what little
remains of his sanity. Enjoy him while you can, he is the quintessential
endangered species.
Send RC a message either directly or using
the Word Catalyst feedback form. For more from RCat visit the
Word Catalyst archives or his online
home..
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