The Mark(ings) of Zorro

The Mark(ings) of Zorro

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H.L. Mencken

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More ruminations, rambles, rants and raves from the downhill side of the mountain.

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What's the Matter with Kansas?

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

Once upon a time in Camelot...
I grew up in a small city about 25 miles west of New York City. It was a simpler time and, in the years between the end of WW II and the start of the Vietnam War, life was good. As a kid I could go anywhere I wanted with impunity. I never worried about whether I would get home safely or not. When we went out for the day, we seldom bothered to lock our doors. And summers stretched on for eons.

Today I live in another small town/city about 15 miles west of where I grew up. Life is harder now than it was then. In many ways, there is more insecurity because...because...damn, because the blacks and whites, the certainties, of earlier years have bled into various shades of uncertain gray. We lock all our doors whenever we leave for more than a few minutes. Kids cannot roam the streets without adult supervision. The local kids walk home from school in nonrandom groups and are met by adults at various stages of their trek home. And summers speed past in a blur--one day the daffodils are blooming and the seemingly next day the cicadas are singing their end-of-summer song. Oh yeah...and we have termites in New Jersey now...Asian termites that entered via Port Newark sometime since the 60s. We also have deer ticks in the woods that'll give you Lyme's Disease and mosquitoes which will pass along West Nile Fever. So, even if summer did last as long as it did mumble years ago, we still couldn't go out into the fields and woods with any feeling of safety.

When I wake up in the morning, things hurt which didn't hurt even as recently as a few years ago. I know that in the future I will probably never feel any better than I do today. And that is depressing...I am feeling my mortality as well as the possible mortality of our society. Bleh! Maybe tomorrow will be better and I will kick this particular bout of angst.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005

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