a human issue


After seeing small snippets of the Paralympics yesterday at work I dreamt last night that one of my cats was a woman with no legs and one arm. I picked her up and put her on the arm of the chair and saw a look of immense sorrow in her eyes. I realised that she was dying of loneliness. I asked her how she was and she began to talk and tell me about how she was feeling. As she spoke, the sorrow seemed to lift from her face… it was almost as if the sorrow were transferring to me, for I suddenly began to feel a deep sense of sadness and disgust with myself for neglecting this person for so long. At the same time I felt fear… a fear of the future and how to deal with this situation. I realised I couldn’t, and didn’t want to, spend my time talking to her (or anyone) in the evenings… that was why I chose cats over people… but what could I do? She was my responsibility and it was no longer a matter of feeding, stroking, playing… it was now a human issue… it was like being married.

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