Three Stray American Cats

WHEN THE FIRST  STRAY CAT showed up in my yard, it would have been easy to chase it off, by yelling, or walking a few steps. Later, when it got closer, it would have been easy to kick it. And for that matter, the same is true of the other two stray cats who came to my porch, and refused to leave.

I could have gotten rid of all of them, real quick, real easy, anytime. In truth, i still could, one way or another. But that aint my style. And as far as I'm concerned, it aint the american style either. It just aint the way americans behave, generally. God bless american compassion.

And yes, saying that is truly a vague generality, difficult to prove one way or another, but its my story, and I'm stickin' to it, come hell or high water. Goethe said "Noble be man, compassionate, and good."

those words are incredibly important, partly because goethe said them, but mainly because they express a very positive and profound  aspect of ourselves, it addresses our basic nature, in a way which, i assume make us all happy, wanting to believe it.

I believe it. Cynical and negative as i am about humanity, i believe human is essentially noble, compassionate, and good, like goethe said. and johann wolfgang von goethe, as you may know, was no fool, no naive little dimwit. he was a genius, who knew people like the back of his hand.

When einstein move to america he siad he loved and dmired the tendency of americans to be cheerful, optimistic, full of big dreams about the future. He thought americas were crazy for turning him into a celebrrity, and he was right, but he loved basic american compassion, happiness,love of life.

Everytime I feed these three cats, which seems like about a thousand times a day, i will think of myself as doing what americans do best, helping, sharing, and generally enjoying life.

Goethe knew very well human's negative qualities as well, but most of the time he chose to describe humans in penetrating, honest terms which were neith negative or positive , just honest. I like to think the way i treated the three stary cats showed a little bit of compassion in myself.

And i know i am like this because i was raised in a country where compassion is truly important.