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“It Takes All The Running You Can Do, To Keep In the Same Place”
It’s an interesting phrase that can be found in Lewis Carroll’s book “Through the Looking Glass”. Aside from that, the “Red Queen Hypothesis”, is actually an evolutionary theory concerning the advantage of sexual reproduction as well as the evolutionary arms race of competing species. Interesting theories in themselves, (brings to mind a group of guys in a bar all looking at the same girl) but that’s for another story.
The phrase strikes a deep chord though, one of fear, not of the unknown perhaps but of the unexplained. Because no matter how high or how low our regular salaries or profits are, at the end of the month, most of us inevitably find ourselves back in square one (with the question WHY?? somewhere in the backs of our minds) - waiting for the bills to arrive, the rent to come due, and the groceries to run out. It’s like going round and round a monopoly board with expenses instead of properties on the boxes. Groceries, baby formula, rent, electric bill, telephone bill and so on and so forth. You pass go, collect your 500, and the torture goes on.
Kiyosaki actually used another term to describe this phenomenon, “The Rat Race” - which basically describes how Yuppies (young professionals) expend their lives locked in a vicious cycle between earning and spending, living to eat and eating to live, or as Madam Rempillo would probably say it – “Isang Kahig, Isang Tuka”.
Consider our lives seen through the eyes of a pet hamster:
His mater graduates and lands his first job.
His master gets his first paycheck = Treats parents, friends and girlfriend, buys an Ipod and a new 3G phone.
His master becomes a regular employee = Gets his own apartment or condo (now has to pay rent, electricity and buy groceries).
His master becomes eligible for his first credit card = makes it a hobby to furnish apartment or condo using credit card (acquires the following in succeeding months - large screen TV, Dual Core laptop, trip to Boracay, aircon, microwave oven, new wardrobe, etc). Now he has to pay for his monthly credit card bill on top of the rent, the groceries and the utility bills (which have also risen substantially because of the new appliances).
His Master gets a pay raise or a promotion = Buys a sleek looking, brand new car on loan. Now master has to include payments for car and budget for gas and maintenance in his monthly budget on top of the payments for the credit card, the rent, the groceries (which are also increasing in monthly volume) and the utility bills.
(if you may have noticed, this is starting to sound a bit like the drinking song “may pulis sa ilalim ng tulay”)
By this time, his master is making a substantial amount of money every month. Moreover, his master has begun looking ahead and has started building up a savings account. The monthly expenses may have bloated to gigantic proportions and the credit card and auto loan may extend well into the future, but as of now master seems to have it all under control. Or so he thought…
His master falls in love with the girl he has been sneaking into his apartment and is now planning on getting married! = master now has to save money for the upcoming wedding on top of the car loan, the credit card loan, the car’s gas, the car’s maintenance, the rent, the groceries (which has grown to include condoms, love candles and massage oil) and the utility bills. Of course, master can always use his already substantial savings.
His master gets married and moves in to a bigger apartment or buys his own house = Thank God the girl master has married has her own job! Master and missus though now have to pay for the bigger apartment or a house loan, have to sell the old car for a bigger one, gets another car loan, furnishes new house with credit card and so has to pay for all of this on top of the credit card payments for the wedding and the honeymoon, the utility bills and the groceries.
His Master impregnates his woman and now has a kid = by this time, master and missus are now very busy with their work in order to qualify for a raise or a promotion. After all, they have to save up for the kid’s education and his monthly needs on top of the car payments, the house mortgage, the gas, the groceries, the car maintenance, the house maintenance, the utility bills, the nanny salary, etc.
“It Takes All the Running You Can Do, To Keep In the Same Place”
Although the master looks tired, he is laughing with his wife as they watch the master run round and round in his hamster wheel. Hamster looks very silly, they say.
Hamster continues running and thinks to himself:
“LOOK WHO’S TALKING!”
A friend once said to me “it’s not what you earn, it’s what you spend”. This said after spending the whole afternoon window shopping and coming home with only a ballpoint pen as his purchase. He sure did hit the nail right on the head with that one.
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Note: I have originally meant to discuss several options in this blog that will enable people to get out of the so called “rat race” but I guess I got carried away by the hamster’s story. Oh well, that’s for another blog then.:)
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