Day115; Footnotes of That Poor Thing

Cats and Orcas must be related in some way. Some weird genetic make up in their mind set toward their prey.

My son was in here with me earlier today. He had come in wanting to know if I wanted to watch the start of the NASCAR cup race. While we were watching, something one of the outside cats did caught his attention. One of the smaller of the cats was staring into the drain pipe that runs under the house.  Fearing it was going to try and crawl through that pipe and end up in the front yard with the dogs, I poured a pitcher of water down the pipe. The cat didn’t try to go into the pipe, but it was still very interested. After a while my son told me he was going back to his room to watch the race. He has a much larger television. I was surprised he had stayed as long as he did. 

At one point I got up and went for a cup of coffee. As I returned I happened to glance out the window. Two of the cats were stretched out in the yard with something between them. That poor mouse. It was still moving, but not much. I’m not sure whether it was that badly injured already, or trying to play dead. I’ve seen them do that in the hopes of the attacking cat losing interest and walking away.

 If this mouse had been inside and a victim of our inside cat, I would have saved it and released it outside far from the house. But this was outside with the strays who came to stay. At some point one of the cats lost interest and wandered off somewhere. When I looked out moments later, it was only the smaller cat that now had the mouse.

That poor mouse. It was still moving every once in a while. Just a little, just enough to show it wasn’t dead..yet. I watched that cat as it batted the mouse back and forth. As it literally tossed it up into the air, then to grab and move back to where it had been to do it all again. This cat played with and tormented that mouse for an extended length of time. Finally, as I came back in here and looked out the window the cat and mouse were gone. I can’t imagine the horror that mouse endured.

I know, I know. It was a mouse. They were cats. It is what they do. It is the law of nature. I watch nature documentaries, I know. That doesn’t stop me from feeling so badly for that poor mouse.

 I mentioned Orcas because they will do that as well. Play with their food. Slapping it with their fins or tail. Flipping it up in the air. I read there were various reasons. To avoid sharp teeth, to loosen the skin, to teach the young how to kill. 

My crazy dog Bella chases anything that flies and dares to get close enough. I think she just likes the challenge.

 I wonder though, how many people feel like they are that mouse or the unfortunate seal, caught by a predator? But the predator is life and its messing with, tormenting, playing with them slowly. No matter what you do, which way you go, how you try, you feel trapped. Tossed about and abused slowly and methodically. A pawn, a game piece, used for life’s amusement. It may seem that way at times, but we aren’t. It may seem that there is a dark cloud that follows us around, raining always on our parade, but there isn’t. I’ve heard that we attract what we think about, how we feel. We may, or it may simply seem that way because we are already seeing it in a fashion, already accustomed to seeing and feeling things, so it is more obvious.

Life is always going to have struggles, dark moments, detours along the way. It is how we find our strength. When we take the time, to search for the best way, the right way, to overcome what we are faced with. We are much better people. When we find the inner strength, the intellectual, the spiritual we become much better, much stronger, much more capable people. We are not mice, nor seals, we are humans which are much more capable at understanding what we are dealing with, and how to handle and overcome.