Karma, I have no idea

by abcrystcats

Posted to Poetry and Politics on 2004-07-11 14:25:00

Parent message is 678225
how humans can be so incredibly spiteful, condemning and vindictive. One thing your comments reminded me of, though: it is not without precedent.

Perhaps an insight into the origins of evil: A feral cat gave birth in my home three days before Christmas. She was undernourished, and due to the poor planning of the rescue group, this was her second litter in the year (she should have been spayed). I helped her through the birth, but then left her alone as much as possible. I didn’t want her to feel threatened by my presence.

The next day I went in to see her and found her sitting in her litterbox, her head turned away, while the three newborns screamed in desperation, lying where she’d left them, on the cold plastic. The kittens were undernourished, because she had been scantily fed during her pregnancy. Probably she had no milk to give them ,either. So, she left them alone to die, not even permitting them the warmth of her body, which would have helped them survive longer.

I could see her reasoning. She had nothing to give. She felt threatened by the needs of these alien beings and the effort it would require of her to accept them. Better to let them die, and save herself, than to do what she could to care for them. She couldn’t spare the emotional energy it would take to bond with them.

Animals will chew off a diseased limb, reject or consume deformed offspring, or do anything rather than give in to an unusual need or allow someone “different” a chance to coexist with them. This is animal instinct, which is based on the will to survive. When they do it, it’s innocent.

When we do it, it’s a denial of our own God-given powers of reasoning and compassion. It’s animal, and it’s therefore what we refer to as “evil”. The people who do this somehow believe that they have no energy to spare to allow others the same rights they allow themselves. They feel that by conferring those rights on the different ones, it diminishes their own power. That is all I see in Bush’s ranting about the weakening of marriage and the need for a Constitutional amendment. He and the Cheneys are animals rejecting their own offspring because they think that in doing so, they assure their own survival. Your disgust and horror are well-placed.

Cat