Feb 26th, 2025 Wednesday Cloudy
“Carefree”, is a term often used to describe childhood, at least in an ideal world.
It is also a word that is seemingly as far away from adult life as can be.
People not surrounded by children tend to seek alternatives so they still have someone that inspires them to see life as “carefree”, if possible. Pets naturally enter the scene.
Look at these two kitties. It appears that they indeed enjoy a carefree lifestyle. They wake up in the morning, have breakfast, run around to cause some trouble, nap through the day in whichever spot they prefer, have dinner, play some more, go to bed, then repeat the next day. Not once have I heard from my husband, “I wish I could be carefree like these two!”
However, is that happy-go-lucky feeling how the cats really feel?
Perhaps not so simple. From Sesame’s perspective, he may have a lot to worry about. He needs to serve as the (not-so-effective) alarm clock to bring his parents out of the bedroom by bumping and scratching on the door, often in collaboration with Yuuki. He then needs to watch his dad shower (I am not sure why, but he does it regularly). He also has the important job of making sure that meals are served – he would keep reminding me through meowing, sitting up and staring, and repeated pawing until I “remember” to bring the food out. Afterwards, he supervises Yuuki eat enough kibbles before he devours the rest, possibly to prevent his sister with less appetite from losing weight and his shouldering the blame for it from us 😛 All these daily chores seem to exhaust him, and he is only perfectly relaxed upon climbing onto mommy’s lap after dinner.
Isn’t that a lot of anxiety for such a small creature?
Plus, there is the risk that the kitties would lose their home. No we do not plan on abandoning them EVER, but the abundance of felines waiting to be adopted in countless shelters across the nation clearly shows these sad circumstances do happen. We also travel, so there may be periods of time when our cats feel quite alone. In a sense, they have absolutely no control over their own fate.
Yet despite all the gloominess around the world, Yuuki and Sesame take an unbothered approach. They savor this day, and not let the concern of any potential danger spoil their current happiness.
Is that carefree attitude of ignorance, or of philosophy/choice?
Maybe that utopia where only laughter and sunshine can be found, never exists. After all, the probability that something catastrophic might occur is always there, however small (and sometimes the chance seems larger than other times, or larger than what most people feel comfortable with). Still, if the fear of the unknown future is allowed to ruin the peace and joy of the present, being carefree is forever only a dream.
We can learn from our feline companions. We should do what we can to minimize our exposure to tragic events, and to reduce its impact when some inevitable evils do strike. Once we have done our best to play our part, we should feel at leisure to appreciate everything around us, revel in the shared moments with family and friends, and store up our courage to brave the cold, whenever it blows in.