Why I'm the "Crazy Cat Lady"

Yeah, I admit it. I'm crazy about my cats. I cuddle with them morning and night, kissing their faces and smelling their fur. I'll even talk to them and get mad at them as if they were my own kids. When my Lucky was just new with us, my siblings and I spent 2 weeks nursing him to optimum health at 24 hour watch. I would get up at 5am to give him milk, make him poop, and put him to bed with a warm bottle of water to cuddle up to (his surrogate mom). Now my siblings and I have a routine of cleaning out the litter box and making sure the cats' food bowls have fresh food and water. When Lucky had the E Coli bug we would give him antibiotics 3 times a day. While I hate hate hate touching meat, I wouldn't mind picking up a piece of it for the cats (for those people who're about to start calling me a hypocrite... Cats are natural carnivores! Get over it!).

Those are my confessions and I'm not ashamed to tell the world that I'm gaga over my cats. My parents think I'm insane but my dad seems to soften up to them (sad story, he stepped on Lucky when Lucky was just 2 weeks old and he was a pirate kitten for some time. My dad's never heard the end of it since.). My mom's different though. So one day coming home from work, she was waiting for me to make her beso and instead I made a beeline to Velma and gave her a huge kiss and cooed over her (I'd be sick to my stomach if I saw my behavior too, that's how affectionate I am to them!). My mom complained that I gave the cat a kiss even before I gave my own mother one! Then she said (miracle of miracles), "Marie, you need a boyfriend." Yes, this is coming from the strictest of all mothers, the one who instilled fear and mistrust of the opposite sex in me, the one who banned me from hanging out with guys in high school (!), the one who said that I'll need to bring one of my brothers to my first dates (um, to the guys out there, sorry if it'll be some time before you meet my parents. Or if I'll have to not mention you to them). Who'd've thought that cats would bring my mother to beg me to get a boyfriend.

But I digress. Here comes the drama. If the world wasn't so cruel to non-human animals, I wouldn't be a crazy cat lady. If only we never abused and harmed animals, if only we treated them like God's creatures, just as we are, I'd be perfectly alright without having any cats (they shouldn't exist in the first place! If we don't breed them, they won't exist). We've brought it upon ourselves: the problem of too many stray dogs and cats that their dead carcasses literally litter the streets.

Today as I was driving by the market at Boni Station on the way to work, I saw a dead cat on the road. I was near enough (and it was traffic enough) to see that his skull was crushed and his eyes popped out of his sockets. His black and white fur was dirty. What a sad death it was -- he was a poor forgotten and unwanted creature.

Last Sunday on the way to church in the village, I saw a cat on Country Club Drive, right smack in the middle of the road. He wasn't even completely flattened -- he looked like he was just bumped by a car and fell unconscious on the road. On the way back from mass I drove up to him and saw streaks of blood on the ground and on his fur. He was the same color as Lucky. I felt so horrible seeing this cat -- he died because some reckless maniac drove over him and didn't bother to check if he was still alive or dead. Oh and on that same day, I saw a stray brown dog happily walking down the same street, but this time closer to the intersection with Langka St. Some stupid owner let his dog out without a leash.

Last Thursday, I saw a ball of brown and white fur trying to cross SLEX while I was getting on the highway. Naturally this guy was rammed into by a car and he stumbled and fell. I so badly wanted to get out of my car and check him out, but I was on a 1-lane ramp. I think it was a dog, because he wasn't run over. Going down the Magallanes exit, I saw a flattened bloody carcass on the road. I couldn't even distinguish what the color of his fur was.

"Marie, you shouldn't care too much about animals. What about the poor people?" my mom tells me. Just because I care about animals doesn't mean I don't care about humans (for the record, I spent one week on a deserted island taking care of humans. I made a baby goat friend in the process...). I think we underestimate ourselves in terms of how compassionate we can be. I mean, it's such a burden thinking of the millions of poor people in this world who live by $1 (or less) a day. My heart breaks whenever I think about children whose parents have left them on the streets to make some money while they (the parents) are busy sniffing rugby. I hate hearing about baby corpses found on streets, wrapped in plastic bags and thrown away as if trash. I care.

But I also care about the billions of animals we ourselves have subjected to slavery, abuse, and a lifetime of suffering and unhappiness. I care so much that I don't eat them or participate in the system of suffering. It isn't right. Yes, even if it's "to feed the millions of hungry people in the world," it still isn't right. We can't make "what if" excuses for these atrocities. People can eat beans and rice and fruit and vegetables, and these are damn better for them than meat. The lack of food isn't the problem, it's the politics behind food distribution that's the problem. There are tons of grain (most of the time corn) left to rot in warehouses just to control their prices. Or, you've got tons of grain that could be fed perfectly well to humans, but instead go to livestock to feed them so they (the livestock) could be killed and fed to people who can afford the meat. See where I'm getting at?

So please don't call me crazy. Don't call me unfeeling. Don't say I don't care, because I do. I look forward to coming home at night to see my cats and I treat them the way I do because of what I see in and know about this world. After seeing dead carcasses on the road, I think about my cats and thank God that He's been so good to them. I also thank God for giving me the strength to embrace a compassionate (no matter how "inconvenient" it is, no matter how emotionally burdensome it is) way of life. I see my cats and I hug them and I talk to them, only because I know that all animals deserve respect and love. ALL ANIMALS, not just domesticated "pet" animals.

Defying Gravity

Some Broadway musicals may be fluffy brainless stories about tap dancing but a lot of them really have solid storylines that dissect serious issues. Romance aside, a myriad of musicals have tackled the war in Vietnam, prostitution, poverty, AIDS, relationships, and rebelling against society…

I’m listening to the soundtrack of Wicked, one of my favorite musicals, and I felt like I just had to blog about it. For those not in the know, Wicked is a story about the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, aka Elphaba. It’s a twist on the character, who in The Wizard of Oz is depicted as the ugly green-skinned witch who was the wizard’s enemy and who is the epitome of all evil… A green Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty), if you will.

Gregory Maguire wrote the novel Wicked, the unofficial prequel to The Wizard of Oz. The book was such a hit that it was turned into a musical, which won a lot of Tony Awards (Broadway’s Oscars). I haven’t had the honor of watching the play but I’ve seen the song “Defying Gravity” performed during the Tony Awards a couple of years ago, shown in Star World. Seriously, that song is so good. It gave me goose bumps just watching Idina Menzel (Elphaba) and Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda) perform.

The lyrics of the song are literally awe-some. If you think Elphaba was a mean old green witch, think again. She was a misunderstood brilliant beautiful woman, whose only fault was that she was born with green skin and loved animals. She was more brilliant and had more magic than the Wizard (who if you remember was a fake). She also had a big heart – she became more misunderstood and was considered a witch when she defied the norm and publicly denounced the wizard. She was an accidental animal rights activist: if I remember the story correctly, the wizard tricked her into performing some magic and before she knew it, she turned monkeys into winged monkeys. She also found out that the wizard was conducting experiments on other animals! In the fantastic city of Oz, non-human animals could talk English, were just as intelligent as humans and were treated as citizens of society.

Everyone in Oz was so in awe of the wizard and never knew the truth… When Elphaba found out (that the wizard was a fake, kidnapped animals and performed cruel tests on them), she knew she couldn’t be part of that society anymore. She freed the monkeys who ended up living with her and helped her out… She wasn’t causing destruction in the city as what everyone thought, she was freeing the animals. Such a powerful story!

Anyway, here are the awesome lyrics. They really mirror the passion I feel about veganism and animals. Once you learn the truth, you really can’t turn your back on it, no matter how inconvenient, how “radical”, and how unpopular. Elphaba knew that by becoming a non-conformist she would be considered the evil one.

By the way, if you were curious… Her sister, Nessa Rose, was the real wicked witch who in The Wizard of Oz had a house fall on her. When Boq her boyfriend broke up with her, she put a curse on him… Elphaba tried to save him and ended up turning him into the Tin Man. Elphaba’s lover, Fiyero, was being set on fire by Nessa Rose (I think, can’t remember) and Elphaba had to turn him into a Scarecrow to save him… I forgot what happened to the Lion.

“Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down...

I'm through accepting limits
'Cuz someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But til I try, I'll never know
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love - I guess I have lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately -
Everyone deserves the chance to fly
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me -

Tell them how I
Am defying gravity!
I'm flying high
Defying gravity!
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!"

Accidental Companion Animal

On March 30, a 7- to 10-day old kitten was found by my sister in the empty lot across our house. She heard it crying from her bedroom window which overlooks our street. I suppose its cries were so strong and so persistent that she couldn't do anything but investigate. She found it alone, near the trash, being pecked on by a bird. The poor innocent thing was abandoned by its mother then became prey to an animal that was even smaller than it was!

Long story short, my younger brother (who's vegan too) and I made a decision without even thinking of the consequences: we had to adopt this abandoned kitty and give it a loving home. That Sunday night we camped out in our sala and kept the cat company. Now, a month later, Lucky (the name I christened him with) is still with us.

Needless to say, this cat has turned our lives upside down, and not in an unpleasant way. The first 2 weeks were tough --- my 3 brothers and I had to take shifts taking care of Lucky at night; my shift was usually 5-7am, before I'd leave for work. A kitten is very much like a human baby --- it need to be fed constantly; it needs to be burped; it needs a mommy to help it poop and pee (we moisten a cotton ball and massage its butt); it needs to cuddle to fall asleep. The list goes on.

It was tough for us as we are not pet-people. In my case, I've never wanted a personal pet (my sister has 2 dogs but I do not consider them my pets). Back in grade school I used to have 3 chicks and a rabbit (not at the same time). One chick got sick and died, and that pretty much scarred me for life. Two chicks grew to a ripe old age and became full-grown chickens. Our family dog Nana found them frolicking in our garden one afternoon and decided to have them for merienda and left the remnants of their beaks and adidas for me to see. I don't remember what happened to my rabbit Fluffy; I remember it got pregnant and had pups but abandoned them (we kids played with the pups too much and rabbits don't like humans touching they're babies; they turn cannibal or abandon them) so they died. I don't know if Fluffy escaped or if she died. I'm glad I don't know what happened. With my history of dying pets I never craved the love of a pet, or a more politically correct name, "companion animal". I hated that feeling of witnessing a death of an animal that was supposed to be under my care.

A lot of those "I don't want pets" feelings ran through my head when we adopted Lucky. For one thing I didn't have time to entertain and take care of another animal. For another, I didn't want this cat to die on me. But my young vegan brother was smart; he knew that we couldn't just abandon this cat for our own convenience. Not taking care of Lucky was almost like going against the principles of Veganism, and I couldn't just not take him in while preaching the gospel of compassion for animals.

I gotta say... I never understood the bond some humans have with their companion animals until I had one myself. My brothers and I are so blessed to have Lucky. Despite the smelly poop we love him so much, and before you think I'm a wishy-washy veggie, let me leave you with a thought: humans were given stewardship over creation but we've pretty much screwed nature up. Animals can be admirable beings for a number of reasons: they can be fiercely loyal and lovable; they are never plastic and always honest, always showing what they truly feel; if they must kill, they do so with a purpose -- for food and nourishment, and never for sport or for the sake of it. They are such simple creatures and are so happy with the little affection you have to offer them and a little bit of floor to sleep on.

They can be so trustful too -- one time I had to cut Lucky's claws and he allowed me to hold his little paw, nary a struggle or a meow of protest. He just silently watched me cut his claws, staring oh so intently at the nail clipper I was using. He completely trusted me not to hurt him, and my heart ached for all the animals in the world that have been victims to human abuse.

For those thinking of getting pets... May I suggest that you adopt a stray cat or dog instead of giving your money to backyard breeders and pet shops. There are so many animals that need tender loving care. Don't choose a purebreed over an askal or puskal for purity of blood's sake.