Cats Vs. Dogs Vs. Humans (+poem)
Cats Vs. Dogs. The eternal question. I will refrain from taking a position, because I wouldn’t be a fair judge, my phobia of dogs, even since I was a little boy, wouldn’t allow me to answer truthfully. What I will talk about, will be the generalizations and the stereotypes of those magnificent animals.
They say that one can judge a person for his love of a specific kind of animal, but I find this to be a racist comment against the animals themselves. We cannot bring our pettiness to those simple beings. If we want to ‘blame’ someone or to ‘praise’ something indirectly, and we don’t want to state the specific HUMAN problem or trait, we always have the (ancient) gods… they were invented for this thing after all. So as to have someone to alleviate our fears and someone to blame for our faults.
Regardless, there are some stereotypes that must be followed. Like dog being the faithful servant of man, and cat being the naughty mistress of the house. Both of those are good traits imo.
For I ask you, which is better, the one that keeps struggling after every failure? Or the one that tries to not fail? Those are the dogs and the cats for me.
Stability and determination. Faithfulness and loyalty. Obedience and reward. Dogs, masters of patience…
Or cats? Spontaneity and randomness. Fierce willpower coupled with mighty independence. Ego and pride. Majesty and creativity…
Which one would be the most rewarding? The spontaneous purr of a cat? A result of pure love that comes only once in a while like a reward that is seldom given? A thing to be cherished because it was earned, and it wasn’t certain? Or the constant company of a dog. Its happy barks to keep you company even in the most dire hours? A love that once earned, will stay true and steady. A faithful compatriot to the travesty of life that will never abandon you?
For me, as I said above, comparing animals with humans is degrading. But one can always compare animals to nature. And this is easy, for animals ARE nature. The cat and dog, the opposite side of the same coin. I won’t compare them now, or here, or anytime. Those who cannot see the earth as what it is have blinded themselves. They are the same people that don’t understand why we should care about our world.
One can wonder why I rant about this today… well…
I was sitting there, enjoying a coffee in the sunshine. The weather was brilliant, the company was great, we were chatting and having fun, and you know… enjoying ourselves wasting time.
Then my eyes drifted to this one girl that was barely visible in the corner of my eye. She was standing alone, sadden eyes were decorating her face. They drifted from time to time to the scenery around her, but usually just stood still looking at nothing. The only movement was their sudden movements. Because every time one passed near her, she would jump up, eyes darting in agony around her, like a scared cat, scanning the unknown human as a new object, trying to figure out if it was a threat or a nothingness…
An image sticked in my mind. I was sitting on a couch, and I had a cat in my lap. I was just patting the cat and she purred. And my problems seemed lighter.
They say that talking to people about your problems helps, I disagree. Just letting other people know that you have problems helps, no talking is necessary…
This might sound crazy but please read the whole paragraph before judging this…
I wanted to go to that girl. It was not that she was pretty, it was not that I was attracted to her. But it seemed that there was something that troubled her, something personal most probably, like the things that you cannot discuss with strangers. I have some problems too. So I was thinking how nice it would be, if we humans could communicate like we do with our pets. Just sigh to them, and accept their judgment, be it either the blind acceptance of a dog, or the indifferent walk of a cat, that refuses to see what troubles you as serious. No talking would have to take place. Just a nod to tell them that others have problems too, they are not alone in this madness we call life. Of course, humans are complicated beings… you cannot just walk to a stranger, nod to him, and then accept his response. But why?…
After about 30min the girl left.
So i dedicated a poem to those thoughts, thoughts about the behavior of cats, thoughts about the views of the animals towards us, thoughts about lonely humans, me, her, everybody who cannot find the power to express himself… It is named after the queen of animal indifference, Feline rejection
Rebirth In Darkness 