Cats & Rats

A friend sent me a video the other day featuring a cat and a small rat.  The rat approached the cat while the cat was at its water dish.  I watched the video a couple of times and saw that the cat caught a glimpse of the rat approaching, over his shoulder.  The cat took no immediate action and the rat jumped on the cat’s tail, and then proceeded to chase the cat from the room.   What was wrong with this video?  Lots of things.  Cats and rats don’t get along.  Cats don’t let rats sneak up on them.  Rats don’t chase cats.  I’m sure I could continue the list, but as it was shown later in the video, they were good friends and were having a great time playing together.

The question is, if small brained critters can learn to benefit from each other’s company, why can’t large brained critters like Israelis and Palestinians learn to do the same?  I don’t mean to point a finger at the Middle East here; you can ask the same question about cowboys and Indians.  The Crusades.   Your cave and my cave.  The Others.  Them and us.  So, what advantages do the cat and the rat have in remaining peaceful with each other and benefitting from each other’s company?  Damn!?

Well, for one thing, the cat and the rat know each other.  Our warriors know each other too, but don’t realize it.  The guy in both uniforms is fighting for God, Country, his family, his freedom.  When he aims his weapon, he is aiming at himself.  That should not be hard to learn and understand, especially with our methods of communication now available.

 

Another reason that the cat and the rat can get along is that neither is starving.  There are people starving on our planet, but with the present technology, that is not necessary.  If we turn “swords into plowshares” we can feed the planet.  Oh, hell yes we can.  So humans can be as peaceful as cats and rats, if they will get to know each other and enjoy reasonable creature comforts.  No more kill counts, we are talking about individual human beings, like yourself.

That seems too simple.  Problem is we have insane greed and psychopaths among our number.  There are folks who enjoy causing extreme pain and others willing to become wealthy at the cost of the lives of many or a nation.  There are soldiers sitting in missile silos ready to push a button that will kill millions of innocent civilians that they don’t know or have any interest in.  They have been sitting there for decades.  Just give them the order.  We just bombed Iraq back into the Stone Age and no one can give you a valid reason why.  We don’t even ask any longer.  So, how about we do some learning from the cat and the rat.

Cheers, Old Buz