Catch-22

It is 4am, and I am awake. Apparently after a few months of having to nurse Gideon every single time anyone woke me, I now move into awakeness even when I should just roll over and go back to sleep. I'm hopeful this effect will wear off...

In keeping with the deep thoughts traditionally associated with the very tired and 4am, this morning (night?) I am musing on Catch-22. (Literally, the book.) I hated this book in highschool - really hated it. This is probably because no one mentioned Catch-22 was a satire before I started reading it, and so while I frittered away the last precious moments of my summer vacation reading a book for school that appeared to be the musings of a crazy person, on par with The Little Prince for French class, I stewed in frustration that THIS was the best literature the education system could dig up for me to read. It wasn't until I was virtually to the end of the book that I realized the whole point is to highlight the insanity associated with beaucracy - a topic which is near and dear to my heart. Needless to say, I softened toward it a bit. Over time, I find my appreciation for the themes of the book has only increased - probably in part because the actual reading of it is becoming more and more a faded memory. (In fairness, who knows if I would appreciate it as much if I sat down tomorrow to re-read it and had to slosh through the three cycles of senselessness again).

The book seems appropriate again in light of our current economic situation. People are in debt, prompting the fedeal government to hurl itself father into debt, and this new debt is likely to reduce family savings further through additional taxes (to pay interest on it) or inflation (printing money to pay the interest). We seem to have entered a self-perpetuating cycle of debt, don't we?