Scenario:
The trees are billowing in the
breeze and the smell of coffee permeates through the air. My mother and I sit on
the porch on a sunny Saturday morning having breakfast.
I, of course found this amusing for several reasons- the first being that
my mother had assumed that Tilly had a sense of morality (similar to her own)
and that it was enough to override his feline instincts.
The second reason was that I’ve only ever seen poor, dead birds dangling
from Tilly’s piercing grip so I reckon that my mother may have imagined that
they were alive (maybe in a euphemistic way).
With respect to my first point, it was intriguing to me how much my mother
projected her sense of morality to Tilly, whom she felt such a deep connection
with. On an objective level, it is clear that cats are hunters and evidently
kill their prey; cat homes are notorious for being graveyards of victims of felines.
Yet, my mother projected these feelings of mercy onto Tilly as though he acted
on her plane of free will and choice. Living beings all have different views of
this thing called morality- which is very subjective to said being.
Tilly may very well have some feline principles which he abides to, but
it isn’t quite the same as to what my mother may view as wrong or right. Cats
give in to their primordial instincts, yet paradoxically, it's these same
animals who show levels of compassion when us, humans fall short. Tilly never
fails to know when someone in the house isn’t feeling that great and shows the utmost
levels of love and companionship; traits that are as human in nature.
Musings on our cat (who isn’t just a cat) may seem a bit mundane, but it
points out some very beautiful points about we know (or think we know) about
morality and levels of empathy in singular beings. As an animal lover, it’s beautiful
to see animals beyond their basic primordial instincts and display kindness,
love and empathy.
Maybe we can all learn to be more human by learning from other living
creatures.
Charlie xx
Scenario:
The trees are billowing in the
breeze and the smell of coffee permeates through the air. My mother and I sit on
the porch on a sunny Saturday morning having breakfast.
Tilly, our cat, makes an entrance
and leaps onto the balcony to have a better viewing of some birds nearby.
My mother exclaims that Tilly is a
majestic cat (truthfully) and that he loves birds, so much so that he brings
them back to her alive as presents.
Confused, I ask why Tilly would go
against his very nature of being a cat, which is to capture and kill prey. My mother
replies that he is just a sweet cat.
I, of course found this amusing for several reasons- the first being that
my mother had assumed that Tilly had a sense of morality (similar to her own)
and that it was enough to override his feline instincts.
The second reason was that I’ve only ever seen poor, dead birds dangling
from Tilly’s piercing grip so I reckon that my mother may have imagined that
they were alive (maybe in a euphemistic way).
With respect to my first point, it was intriguing to me how much my mother
projected her sense of morality to Tilly, whom she felt such a deep connection
with. On an objective level, it is clear that cats are hunters and evidently
kill their prey; cat homes are notorious for being graveyards of victims of felines.
Yet, my mother projected these feelings of mercy onto Tilly as though he acted
on her plane of free will and choice. Living beings all have different views of
this thing called morality- which is very subjective to said being.
Tilly may very well have some feline principles which he abides to, but
it isn’t quite the same as to what my mother may view as wrong or right. Cats
give in to their primordial instincts, yet paradoxically, it's these same
animals who show levels of compassion when us, humans fall short. Tilly never
fails to know when someone in the house isn’t feeling that great and shows the utmost
levels of love and companionship; traits that are as human in nature.
Musings on our cat (who isn’t just a cat) may seem a bit mundane, but it
points out some very beautiful points about we know (or think we know) about
morality and levels of empathy in singular beings. As an animal lover, it’s beautiful
to see animals beyond their basic primordial instincts and display kindness,
love and empathy.
Maybe we can all learn to be more human by learning from other living
creatures.
Charlie xx
