Escape (From an Off the Cuff writing prompt)

Escape

It is an obvious thing to point out, but, in order to engage in some form of escape, there is a requirement to first be trapped, perhaps physically, but these days more often than not it is in the less obvious mental and financial arenas. Overcoming the latter is becoming harder and harder, it seems our political masters have decreed a new eleventh commandment, that to them that hath shall be given more, with the added codicil that to those lucky enough to perhaps have some already we will take it away. Upward mobility swapping to the downward plummet.

The modern world with all its trappings, an interesting word ideologically given the idea of escape, simple choices once made locking in the user. Choose your broadband or mobile phone supplier and, swapping out to another provider later on becomes a nightmare of new passwords, new email addresses and the like. Probably it was ever thus, you chose you sports team for good or ill, were you a Beatles or a Stones fan, a Mod or Rocker, a skinhead or a punk, and before that perhaps a Teddy Boy? Even further back the really hard decisions regarding conscientious objection, or going down the mines, or similar, to avoid conscription.

A phrase that echoes down the years has always been ‘just because I am paranoid it doesn’t mean they aren’t trying to get me!’ And so they are, the unscrupulous and the spammers, those out to make a quick buck. The snake oil and the fool’s gold merchants are still out there, making their dodgy bucks. If you are lucky, and constantly vigilant, you hope you can escape their traps but it is not easy.

As for the emotional world, the hardest of all to escape being suckered in, if you get it right first time you will be in a minority. Each generation faces new traps, the escape routes ever changing, but remember to be wary, the black dog and the bad guys are always out to catch out those with vulnerabilities. Be strong, be brave, but most of all be lucky.

Written at the “Off the Cuff” writing group 9th May 2022.

We meet most Mondays from 10-12, Littlemoor Library, Weymouth. Dorset.