Everyday Canvas

Animal Affections // Hardships with What We Aim for

Prompt: In what ways, do you think, animals especially cats show affection to humans?

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Most animals, even the wildest ones, understand about affection and can show it in their very special behaviors. The reason we get in trouble with them is because we are not aware of their ways of being.

I love all animals, but especially cats. With dogs, you know immediately that the dog loves you. Chances are all dogs love everyone, especially those who are kind to them. I used to have a NewFoundland and despite his large body, he didn’t have an unfriendly cell in it. Granted, not all dogs are NewFoundlands, but most carry a friendly gene, somehow.

On the other hand, cats only show affection to the humans they have adopted. I had cats all the time when I was growing up and I still miss having a cat.

Like everything else about them, cats can be subtle about their show of affection. A cat may not look at you in the face, but it may turn its back and purr especially if it is taken your lap as its eminent domain and you are in the process of stroking its fur. If a cat looks at you and blinks and shows its belly, it means it trusts you and likes your company. Then, in extreme situations, it licks you either to groom you or to comfort you.

When I was a teenager, my mother became very ill but refused to go to the hospital. Not knowing what to do, I was downstairs in the kitchen preparing the concoction her doctor had ordered. While doing that, I lost it and began to cry non-stop. My cat, then, jumped at the table and began licking my face, purring and making sounds at the same time. To this day, I don’t forget it and whenever something goes awry, I feel his touch emotionally and it still comforts me.

Cats will do that for us. They are very effective in their own special ways.

Prompt: Jonathan Heimberg says, “Difficulty is the price we pay for everything worth having.”
Do you agree that every dream, goal, or thing worth having is designed to be difficult? If so, why?

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No, nothing has to be too difficult, and I bet, things weren’t designed to be difficult for us. True, some perspiration is needed to bring a project to its completion, but I wouldn’t call that a difficulty but the price we pay for what we want.

I rather think that it is us who make it all so difficult with our unattainable dreams and the lack of willingness to work hard and, at the same time, give up our habitual comforts.

Also, it has to do with our modus operandi, which points to most people like me who foster a bit of perfectionism in their expectations. Sometimes, all-or-nothing-at-all idea just doesn’t work, and we’d better face that.