One afternoon, when the little child was feeling playful, he decided to run through the tall grass in his backyard. His mission came to an abrupt stop when he heard a sharp hissing sound coming from the shadows. The child got curious. Cautiously, he moved forward, looking to find the source of the sound. Crouched near the base of a tree, he found a shabby orange cat. With its arched back, ears pinned flat against its head, and wide, fierce eyes, it didn’t look very happy to see him.
The child took a step back. Completely baffled, he said softly, “Hey there, kitty.” The cat hissed sharply again. The child felt a little hurt but also confused. He hadn’t thrown a rock. He hadn’t chased it. He was just there. Why was this cat being so mean to him when he hadn’t done anything wrong? It wasn’t fair.
He became upset and decided that he didn’t want to play with an angry cat anyway. The child started to walk away, but as he moved, he heard a sharp metallic sound. He paused and looked back toward the cat. The cat was not charging toward him. In fact, it had not moved at all. The child wanted to investigate. Ignoring the scary sounds that the cat was making a few moments ago, he went back to see. He saw that the cat’s back paw was stuck between a wooden panel and a nail poking out of it. Every time the cat tried to pull away, the nail dug deeper into its skin.
This made the child realize something. The cat wasn’t angry at him. The cat was terrified, hurting, and trapped. Its lashing out wasn’t an attack on the child’s presence. It was just a way to say, “I’m in pain, stay away, I’m vulnerable!” The child’s reaction changed completely. He didn’t feel hurt or angry anymore; he wanted to help. He knelt and gently moved the wooden panel. As soon as the cat became free, it started licking its paw, and then later approached the child and rubbed against his leg.
I wrote this story because it is feeling very relevant to me right now. I feel so angry with everyone around me and I don’t understand why. Well, I do understand it but I don’t know how to fix it. It’s not fair to them either. I do have reason to hate some people but the others are just being the victims of my anger and irritation. I didn’t feel like writing anything lately and I am not sure if I would be able to write more for a while. Maybe I will write later before I leave for Bangalore and then it will be a long break as I am not planning to come back soon.
