It is very big, it never stops moving, wonderful fishy smells emanate from it, it’s too big to catch, not sure if it’s scary but darn, I wish I could figure it out!
I am quite convinced these are the thoughts that go through Snatch’s mind as she spends concerted time each day glowering at the sea from the safety of the deck.
Since coming to live at the beach Snatch has become quite uppity, particularly with regard to her food. It has been very frustrating, as tasty morsel after tasty morsel is disdainfully declined followed some moments later by piteous weeping. The final straw was when I offered her a very expensive medley of crab, lobster and something else in aspic that she used to turn cartwheels for. As I stood proudly back to witness her delight at this hard come by treat imagine my total indignation as she sniffed it and then began scratching the floor in an attempt to cover it!
The time had come, I decided, to remind her of her origins. Snatch is Mocambican by birth and was brought , tiny, bristling and flee ridden, to us by Jaime, yes the same Jaime who is the guarda, the same Jaime who created huge trauma by hauling her out of the car by the scruff of the neck when we arrived, the same Jaime, who two months later, she still detours around and glowers at slit-eyed. Humble origins for a fussy cat.
She has never agreed to eat anything other than fish, in keeping with a cat born at the seaside, so this sudden stand-off with regard to all the fishy delicacies I offer her has had me quite befuddled. Until I watched her watching the sea and then a slow wondering began. She can smell fresh fish, it’s coming from that huge whatever is down there, so why does she keep getting yukky old processed stuff? My neighbour, Chris (he of the Sunday morning coffee fame) often accuses me of being anthropomorphic, but I’m sure there is an element of both the wild and the human in Snatch!
In this age of global integration and need for immediate self gratification, I think we have become accustomed to accepting the copy, the replacement, the less than the best but almost as good. If you can’t get the real thing, a clever fake will do. We, in fact, agree to be deceived. But animals are instinctive and they can sniff out a fake faster than we can blink, and so when given the choice they will demand the real thing every time.
Where did we lose this ability to judge what is good and real and become prepared to settle for mediocrity when we were created for so much more? We pander to what is deemed right and proper by faceless dictators of fashion, food and behaviour and in so doing I fear we have lost a precious, integral part of what was our uniqueness as beings created in the image of God. We no longer celebrate individuality and creativity if it is outside the accepted norm. Even our “difference” must conform.
But there is One who says: “My child, I created you to be you in order to fill the role I planned for you, go be the best I made you to be” and I thank God that His love is big enough to allow us to do just that.
The Art of Giving
13 August 2012“….and there is nothing new under the sun.”
28 August 2012The Art of Giving
13 August 2012“….and there is nothing new under the sun.”
28 August 2012
1 Comment
Awesome, loved it.Thanks for that reminder to go for the real thing and not settle for fake!