‘Humanity’s true moral test, its fundamental test, consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect humankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it’      Milan Kundera

I have referred to pushback before, so I will not go into it here today (April, 17th, 2020).  Yesterday yet another pet cat was hurt. I found her dead on the road near our house when I was walking back from town. She had given birth a few days ago. We don’t have control over other people’s actions, and all I can do is manage my own experience in the aftermath of the event.

A quote from Brené Brown’s book, Braving the Wilderness, comes to mind:

‘I’ve shared opinions with my community and experienced pushback from some people that took my breath away. Everything from “Keep your mouth shut” to violent and graphic threats against my family. My visceral response is “Strong back, armored front.” But that’s no way to live. Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, joy, trust, intimacy, courage— everything that brings meaning to our life. An armored front sounds good when we’re hurting but causes us much more pain in the end. When we let people take our vulnerability or fill us with their hate, we turn over our entire life to them. Many of us armor up early as a way to protect ourself as children. Once we grow into adults, we start to realize that the armor is preventing us from growing into our gifts and ourself. Just like we can strengthen our courage muscle for a stronger back by examining our need to be perfect and please others at the expense of our own life, we can exercise the vulnerability muscle that allows us to soften and stay open rather than attack and defend.”

Two watercolours of a fictional cat and one of our pet cats.