On the Coolness of Cats
It's strange. I don't really consider myself a compassionate or kind person. I regularly ignore people asking for change on the street. I view that guy wrapped in a pink sleeping bag every day till noon in front of the post office bench with distaste. I don't care for babies. I view many "conditions", such as mild Asperger's or ADD, with suspicion and wonder if they're not actually character flaws.
But today one of my friends mentioned that she has to leave her door closed so that the cat who lives in her aparment (and belongs not to her, but someone her roommate knows) won't nose open the door. She left the A/C on, and I'm presuming she didn't want the cold air to escape. When I suggested leaving the cat in the room, she said that his litter box and water were outside, and he would shove open the door to get to them. At this point, I asked, 'why not leave the litter box and water inside?' She responded that it was not her cat, and she wasn't going to bring them inside.
I thought this was a horrible thing to say, and I'm not sure if this is because she has a habit of saying things rather bluntly and doesn't realize how she sounds, or if she actually doesn't care that this cat is locked in an apartment on a day where it is supposed to reach 101 degrees fahrenheit without air conditioning because it is not her cat and she doesn't want her room to be hot when she gets back. Later she mentioned that the windows were open, so 'it's breezy, and it's not like it's going to be 130 degrees or anything'.
I live in an apartment where the only room that has A/C is mine. Even yesterday at night, I couldn't stand being outside the room for the 30 minutes required to watch the Colbert Report. The windows were all open, and there was a slight breeze... but I'd be lying if I said that it really helped, and I think anyone without air conditioning on a hot day like that would say the same. If you add this to her comment that her glasses fogged up every time she left her room and went to the kitchen, I just can't understand why she feels no concern leaving a furry animal like that just because it's not hers.
Is it because I don't own pets? Maybe. To her credit, she does own two cats... who live with her parents with central air. I don't even doubt the cat's ability to survive. I know people who are out and about even now. It may be rough and uncomfortable, but not life-threatening.
What bothered me even more was when I mentioned that after hearing that, I had no more doubts that I should take care of my subletter's Christmas cacti, she just... laughed. Can someone really be that callous? Did she not understand what I was saying? I think at least the second part is true, because she went on to try and talk to me about how she felt like her tupperware containers were like bento boxes. Afterwards, I thought about her recent attempts to adopt a new cat. A woman at the shelter had told her about the history of a cat that had been systematically abused before being rescued. Her response: "I felt bad about it, but I don't like longhaired cats".
I feel disgust for people who approach me on the street and ask for money. Would the average person think that I am worse than she because I'm callous towards human beings, and she is only callous towards animals?
To be truthful, I feel conflict along with my disgust. It's true that the homeless people I've met have largely been rude, brazen, or frauds. They lie to me and my friends, aggressively demand money, loudly accost anyone who meets their gaze. But there are (or so they tell me) genuinely ill people who were simply shoved out onto the streets because there wasn't enough room in the mental institutions. And I do feel that I should try to help out those who can't help themselves. But when choosing between someone I feel is not uncapable of supporting themselves, but unwilling, and an animal that is literally powerless to escape a situation... I'd choose the animal.
Am I wrong in this? I feel that I am not, but other people might think otherwise: that a human life is always worth more than an animal's. Is it strange to be re-evaluating a friendship just over these events? I'm not sure, but the fact that she was unwilling to expend even this small amount of effort to make another living, breathing, (and sometimes purring) thing more comfortable bothers me.
But today one of my friends mentioned that she has to leave her door closed so that the cat who lives in her aparment (and belongs not to her, but someone her roommate knows) won't nose open the door. She left the A/C on, and I'm presuming she didn't want the cold air to escape. When I suggested leaving the cat in the room, she said that his litter box and water were outside, and he would shove open the door to get to them. At this point, I asked, 'why not leave the litter box and water inside?' She responded that it was not her cat, and she wasn't going to bring them inside.
I thought this was a horrible thing to say, and I'm not sure if this is because she has a habit of saying things rather bluntly and doesn't realize how she sounds, or if she actually doesn't care that this cat is locked in an apartment on a day where it is supposed to reach 101 degrees fahrenheit without air conditioning because it is not her cat and she doesn't want her room to be hot when she gets back. Later she mentioned that the windows were open, so 'it's breezy, and it's not like it's going to be 130 degrees or anything'.
I live in an apartment where the only room that has A/C is mine. Even yesterday at night, I couldn't stand being outside the room for the 30 minutes required to watch the Colbert Report. The windows were all open, and there was a slight breeze... but I'd be lying if I said that it really helped, and I think anyone without air conditioning on a hot day like that would say the same. If you add this to her comment that her glasses fogged up every time she left her room and went to the kitchen, I just can't understand why she feels no concern leaving a furry animal like that just because it's not hers.
Is it because I don't own pets? Maybe. To her credit, she does own two cats... who live with her parents with central air. I don't even doubt the cat's ability to survive. I know people who are out and about even now. It may be rough and uncomfortable, but not life-threatening.
What bothered me even more was when I mentioned that after hearing that, I had no more doubts that I should take care of my subletter's Christmas cacti, she just... laughed. Can someone really be that callous? Did she not understand what I was saying? I think at least the second part is true, because she went on to try and talk to me about how she felt like her tupperware containers were like bento boxes. Afterwards, I thought about her recent attempts to adopt a new cat. A woman at the shelter had told her about the history of a cat that had been systematically abused before being rescued. Her response: "I felt bad about it, but I don't like longhaired cats".
I feel disgust for people who approach me on the street and ask for money. Would the average person think that I am worse than she because I'm callous towards human beings, and she is only callous towards animals?
To be truthful, I feel conflict along with my disgust. It's true that the homeless people I've met have largely been rude, brazen, or frauds. They lie to me and my friends, aggressively demand money, loudly accost anyone who meets their gaze. But there are (or so they tell me) genuinely ill people who were simply shoved out onto the streets because there wasn't enough room in the mental institutions. And I do feel that I should try to help out those who can't help themselves. But when choosing between someone I feel is not uncapable of supporting themselves, but unwilling, and an animal that is literally powerless to escape a situation... I'd choose the animal.
Am I wrong in this? I feel that I am not, but other people might think otherwise: that a human life is always worth more than an animal's. Is it strange to be re-evaluating a friendship just over these events? I'm not sure, but the fact that she was unwilling to expend even this small amount of effort to make another living, breathing, (and sometimes purring) thing more comfortable bothers me.
posted by Faye at 10:22 AM
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