When I was a child, stray dogs and cats were everywhere in Japan. They regularly found food and shelter in the neighbourhood. Many people were easy with them. Some, especially children, often grew affection for them through occasional feeding and petting. It was the time half-wild animals and humans were living together without too much conflict.
As far as I remember, there were always some cats around my house. When a mother cat had babies in spring, we followed the little ones and often found where their shelter was. Sometimes it was in the barn and sometimes under a pile of bamboo poles beside the house. Sometimes it remained undetected. Either way, they were always around when I was little.
The babies were so cute of course my brother, sister and I chased them. We tried to bribe them with food. They quickly learned the taste of treats, but not all of them let their guard down when we were around. Some kittens were friendlier than others. So were the mothers.
Even though we were used to each other, they were stray cats, not the house pets. My parents didn’t have to and wouldn’t take any responsibility to discipline them. Cats were threatened when they came to where the adults didn’t want them to be, like in the house, but other than that left alone. Trying to touch an unfriendly cat, sometimes I was scratched. Even a friendly one sometimes acted naughty.
After years of chasing, I learned that I can’t control a cat as I wish. I learned to let it be. She comes when she wants. She shamelessly flatters to get what she wants. And she goes whenever she wants regardless my effort to keep her.
It was painful when she didn’t show any more interest when I was trying hard to get her attention. But what could I do? You can’t make someone pleased when she does not want to enjoy it. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Those masters taught me this lesson very, very well.
Years after I left my hometown, when I was back home visiting my parents, I found 2 cats tied to a cage in the barn.
The story was like this: since the cats were around our place, the neighbors started considering my parents as the house owner were responsible for them. Some neighbor came to complain that the cats were the trouble in her garden. My parents could have called the public health service to take care of the matter, but my mother didn’t have such a nerve. As the solution, she ended up chaining those poor cats and started taking care of them as her pets.
The nice olden days, when stray animals and humans were living together, are over. People are now expecting more responsibilities of someone to control the animals in the human society.
I am not discussing about the rightness of human control over animals here. I just learned that unconscious, innocent and hence likely irresponsible interfere with nature can result an unfortunate situation.
In many ways, I have learned a lot of important things from cats. They are my great masters of life.