We were sold a lie. They made us believe that life was wonderful, that everything would be a road full of good things, that if “pim”, that if “pata”, that if “everything is going well”….
AND A SHIT.
No, it is not like that. Either we live in a bubble, oblivious to society, to the news, to the networks, to all the noise of the world… or we open our eyes and reality hits us like a punch in the face.
Because it is enough to wake up for the chaos to begin. You open a newscast and the misery and injustice make your stomach lump in knots. They tell you about poverty, about wars, about leaders who play with lives as if they were pieces on a board. What if Trump wants to turn Gaza into a paradise for the rich without its inhabitants, what if Elon Musk is still in his parallel universe of infinite wealth, what if corruption in Spain has gotten out of hand?
And when you manage to process all this, you go back to your own thing. To your little world, which in comparison seems minimal… but which also has its burden. Because let’s not fool ourselves: out of seven days a week, one is good, four are bad and two are average.
We were told that life was something else. We were deceived.
Where’s that “we’ll be happy ever after” stuff? I’m not even asking for partridge eating anymore, but are we really crazy or what?
Yesterday I went to the Spar, here in Báscara. There was only one loaf of bread left. I took it, added four more things and paid without looking at the total. Nothing unusual, until I was sitting on the terrace with some friends, talking about how bad life is, I said, “I’m going to pay:
-But if I have bought four pieces of junk and I’ve been blown?
-What do you say, man?
-Yes, I swear.
-Come on…
I pull out the ticket on my cell phone, look at it and I’m flabbergasted. 2.70 euros for a loaf of bread.
-Look.
-Ostia... what is it made of?
-500 pesetas for a loaf of bread! No wonder nobody took it….
Nervous laughter. Because it is to laugh for not crying.
And so on.
I’m having lunch with a friend. Gas station bar, menu of the day. Nothing special. But when it’s time to pay… 40 eurazos. Between the two of us, yes… but 40 eurazos. And no wine, no drinks, just the menu with a steak with extra charge, dessert and coffee.
Are we crazy or what? If you can’t leave the house. If it’s scary.
And it’s not just the food. It’s everything.
Rents are impossible. A 50-meter apartment, with luck, 900 euros per month. And that’s if you find it, because half of it is already in the hands of the vulture funds, squeezing every penny out of us.
Cars, untouchable. Before you could buy a decent car for 12,000 euros. Now you can’t go below 20,000. And if you think about a second hand one, get ready, because they ask you more than for a new one.
The food, a luxury. Oil at 10 euros per liter. Meat at the price of jewelry. The fruit, you have to pay and pay… and you still eat it with fear because everything has chemicals.
And meanwhile, salaries remain the same. Has anyone’s salary been raised by 50% as prices have risen? No, right? But they tell us “not to complain”, that “everything is under control”.
We were deceived. We were led to believe that life would be something else.
And the worst of all… is that many still believe it.
Or maybe not?
Because now, looking back and speaking with full knowledge of the facts… When I arrived here, I needed to bill 7,000 euros a month to get by. No frills, no luxuries, but just getting by.
Today I need 16,000.
To put out fires. To keep plugging holes. To keep running in this wheel that does not stop.
And the worst part of all this is that we do nothing.
We continue, as long as we have enough for a beer. As long as we can go out, as long as we can weather the storm. That’s enough for us.
And the other day, talking with a friend about this, we came to a conclusion….
Perhaps we are living in an experiment.
An experiment in “how long can we hold out”.
Because this is not normal. Because if it’s not an experiment, then… it’s a nightmare.
It’s like that movie in which the protagonist lives in a set, in a world where everything that happens to him is part of a script, where he is the protagonist and … shit that…
Yes! The movie I am referring to is “The Truman Show” (The Truman Show, 1998), starring Jim Carrey. In it, he, unknowingly, lives on a gigantic set, surrounded by actors and with his life controlled by a script. Everything that happens to him is planned, everyone he interacts with follows instructions and the world he thinks he lives in is nothing more than a televised experiment.
In the end, Truman begins to realize that something doesn’t add up, that his reality is too perfect and, at the same time, full of absurdities that don’t make sense… exactly like the feeling I describe.
It is a brutal metaphor about manipulation, acceptance of imposed reality and how far we can go without questioning what surrounds us. Do you want me to mention it explicitly in the text to give it more force?
Because if not, how else can it be explained?
How can we explain that everything goes up, that everything costs twice as much, that every month it is more difficult to survive and that nobody does anything?
How do you explain that we put up with it, that we carry on as if nothing happened, as if it were normal?
Or maybe… maybe I’m the one who’s fooled.
AND YOU… what do you think? ??????
From MasTorrencito we wish you a good day and may your dogs be with you!!!!
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