R.I.P. Prince

My inspiration for "The Cat" has sadly passed away! Prince, the terror of all things furry in the neighborhood, finally met his match on Monday night. There was a cat-fight on our front lawn, but normally that indicates that some moggy has somehow strayed onto Prince's patch and is getting a bit of  a pummeling before making its escape. Yelling at them sometimes arrests Prince's attention for a moment, allowing the other cat to flee. Sadly there appears to be a new top cat in the district and I found Prince lying on a patch of scratched up lawn surrounded by clumps of fur (not his), having passed on to where cats go. "They who live by the claw, die by the claw!" Rest in Peace, Prince!

The Cat - Applied!

If you read "The cat", then this post might make sense to you, if you haven't then go and read that post first before reading this one. I want to use something contained in that story to illustrate a struggle that some people have. In the story the cat was supposed to be inside e cardboard box while I drove the car, but instead it determined that a cardboard box wasn't a fit place for an animal of such distinction, so it made an all out effort to escape.This left me as the driver with a dilemma - do I concentrate on driving and leave the cat to it, or do I let the cat out, not knowing what the consequences of that action will bring forth. My initial response was to attempt to do both. The outcome of that was that I couldn't pay the attention to driving that was needed - fortunately it was a easy drive with no incidents demanding my concentration; and I ended up getting scratched on my hand and arm by the cat determined not to be contained. In other words, both outcomes were poor! The more energy that I put into one, the less that I could put into the other, so eventually something had to give!
Before I continue, lets see the parallel between this story and some peoples lives. The car journey represents the journey of life - negotiating our way along through each day. Some days take a lot of concentration, some are easily negotiated, but all require a degree of attention to what is happening around us. Sometimes it takes all our energy and concentration just to get through the day - those trying and stressful days we all encounter from time to time.
The cat represents a "truth". In the story the cat was ill and needed the Vet's attention. That was the truth, even the cat knew he was ill, but he didn't click to the fact that the journey to the Vet was going to get him better - all he wanted to do was escape! That is the nature of truth - it wants to get out! The more it is bottled up inside us, the more it fights to be released! This truth can be in regard to anything - it might be about some addiction or habit that we are trying to keep hidden, or it might be about past events that we don't want to face, or about the way we perceive ourselves or the way we think others perceive us. Basically it can represent anything that we don't want to face up to or deal with!
These "truths" don't go away just because we try to ignore them, rather they keep making themselves know, as we keep coming across things that point to, or remind us of their existence. The harder we try to contain them, the more they seem to wound us, in their fight to escape. The other thing that happens is that they require energy to keep them hidden. That energy demand, takes away from the energy that we can put into negotiating our daily lives, causing us to be less able to cope! The consequences of this vary from getting irritable at anyone that somehow reminds us of this truth, to feeling stressed, maybe angry or emotional, to having a complete breakdown as we find the battle between living and containing this truth becomes overpowering.
The reason that we don't want the truth to come out is simply because we are afraid of the consequences. What will happen, how will that affect us and what will others think? It also means admitting that I have a problem, and I might need to change some parts (or all ), of my lifestyle. Often that means things that I enjoy, but are harmful, have to be given up and if I don't want to give them up, I will fight vehemently against having the truth come out!
Sadly, in order to ease the pain of those truth caused scratches, people find ways to escape! Something that for a fleeting moment or two makes them feel good! I say. "sadly" because often these escapes become other buried habits (truths), that we don't want to face, so when they are not there to give us a temporary reprieve from the hurt, they are adding to the energy drain and compounding the problem. The more energy that is put into holding these truths in, the less energy we have for daily living.
Is there an answer? Yes, but it is easy to write and difficult to do if this represents your life. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free!" The answer involves facing the truth, not just having someone outline something to you, but actually owning it - letting it out and facing the consequences! The interesting thing is, often the consequences aren't anything like what we feared - but even if they require some radical changes, to finally have the energy to live life and be free from the overwhelming battle to keep things hidden, more than outweighs this!
When the cat was finally let out of the box he did go berserk for a bit and yes I did discover a new problem as he shed his fur everywhere - I'm not saying it will all suddenly come right - but I could concentrate on driving the car, and work through the other problems without worrying about having an accident! Oh the relief!   Food for thought!  Greg.

The cat!

A while ago our cat got sick, some sort of respiratory thing that caused him to breath rather raspingly and just lie under a shady bush like he was about to die. Finding him in this condition I rang the Vet and was told that they had an opening almost immediately if I could bring him in there and then! Now Prince is normally not the most docile of Puss's! He has a reputation around the neighborhood for beating up every other cat, and in fact causing the demise of our lovely immediate neighbors cat! He doesn't like being lifted up and has exceedingly sharp claws which he is happy to use to good effect to make his intentions known. So - how do I transport him to the vet? I found a large cardboard box, put some newspaper on the bottom of  it, positioned it in the car on the passenger seat next to me, and gently picked up Prince and deposited him in it, quickly closing the car door and closing all the flaps on the box to keep him in. For some reason my children refused flatly to hold the lid closed  for me while I drove - in fact they refused to travel in the car with Prince! Past experience had almost traumatized them for life! However I had no option so off I started, steering wheel in one hand and the other trying valiantly to hold the flaps on the box closed - if there is ever a next time, I will put it in the boot! Well this listless, sick moggy, instantly gained one if not more, of its nine lives and decided to use it to the full! Head, legs, claws, teeth emerged from the box, and as fast as I pushed the head back in, a paw would pop out and flail around for something to rip to shreds - needless to say trying to drive and contain him, rapidly became impossible, and with blood drippy from hand and arm I surrendered the battle that I was never going to win and let him out! Have you ever been in  a car with  a demented cat determined that there has to be  a way out if he can hit any and all of the glass windows hard enough. This rather large ball of fury sailed around and around inside, bouncing off windshield (rather hard to see where you are going with a lunatic fluffball in in the way), side windows, rear window, seats, ceiling, the only part he avoided was the floor - oh, and the box!  To add to the mayhem He emitted a high pitched whining noise the whole time! I also learn't of another reaction that cats have to stress - it's called shedding! He shedded fur everywhere- not just a bit of fluff - a full snowstorm of the stuff that caused everything to itch and my sinuses to immediately revolt! Just when I thought I would have to stop and abandon the vehicle, he decided that the best spot was to jam himself on top of the dashboard hard against the windscreen next to me and moan at every other vehicle on the road. This also optimized the amount of fur he could shed in the direction of my face, neck and hands- I mention hands because it stuck nicely to the congealing blood so that I now appeared to be an escapee from the planet of the Apes. We continued to the Vet in this manner! Arriving at the Vet, I still had to get him inside. The box was now out of the question, and seeing that I was already covered in fur and blood I figured the only thing to do was to pick him up, cuddle him to me and pray that I survived long enough to get inside. Staying true to his completely contrary nature, he allowed me to resign myself to my fate as I picked him up, then snuggled into my shoulder like the most cuddly cat and lay there like this was his normal behavior. It worked a treat as the receptionist questioned me on what I had been doing to this sweet animal to get it so upset - the poor thing..........! Half an hour visit with the Vet - gets me to hold the cat while he sticks a thermometer up it's rectum, "Just take a good handful of skin on its neck", he says. Fortunately the table was stainless steel and Prince couldn't get any traction, because it would have been curtains for both of us if he could - as it was I couldn't believe how much a cat can contort it's body in order to get a claw or two in human flesh. The Vet gave him  a jab of something - liquid gold judging by the bill, and we lowered Prince into a proper transport cage, then both applied plasters to our various wounds. The surgery only had a light dusting of fur as most it was in the car and after taking out a second mortgage to pay  for the entire exercise - (for that amount, you'd think that there would at least be a robot to hold the cat), we headed home. For the next three days I had to squirt some paste down Prince's throat - funny, but yet again the family left this job to me - well I knew how to hold him by a handful of neck skin - pity we didn't have a stainless steel bench like the Vet -amazing how much purchase a cat can get off lino! Furthermore, the end I was dealing with, had teeth! Prince is now fully recovered; The car, after copious vacuuming over many months is almost free of fur, and my hands mostly healed! The second mortgage to pay the Vet should just about be cleared by the time I retire, and Prince has returned to terrorizing the neighborhood! Anyone want a cat?  Stay healthy Prince!