This summer I brought home a kitten, six-weeks old,
and cute as a button. (How did buttons get the reputation of being cute,
anyway?)
Her name is Lacey. [I am unable to load a photo of Lacey, doubtless because of my birth date. Grr.]
Lacey arrived in a house with three other cats.
Okay, we’re cat people. But we have a large house!
Anyway, the first cat Lacey noticed was our yellow
tabby tomcat, 6-year-old Jones. [Also, no photo of Jones.]
The second she saw him, Lacey's eyes got big and she
jumped right on top of him. Jones yelled and hissed and whacked at her.
The next second, Lacey jumped on Jones again.
Finally, Jones ran out the cat door to the outdoors
to nap in peace. Before exiting, I must note, he had some very unpleasant
things to say to the humans who brought that monstrosity into the house. What
were we thinking? Why were we destroying his peace and quiet? What had happened
to our mental abilities – already limited because we are mere humans – but
still?
Lacey is a wonderful kitten: gentle, curious but
cautious, and follows her humans all around the house. However, truthfully, she
only has eyes for Jones. If he appears in her vision, she abandons all pretense
of loving her humans, and runs up to him, jumps on him, chases his tail.
No matter how awfully Jones treats Lacey in return,
she still loves him dearly.
Actually Jones is showing amazing tolerance for this
pest. He growls at her and hisses, and probably calls her mother cat names with
his body language, but he has never attacked her. He has never scratched her.
He has never jumped on her in return.
Jones knows instinctively that a kitten must be
tolerated because she is young. She doesn’t know any better than to behave
badly toward him: jumping at him from corners, ignoring his bad language toward
her through hissing, forever watching his tail.
That’s how it is with youngsters – feline or human:
they behave badly, unprofessionally, crudely because they don’t know any better
yet. They resent being corrected, but they want to be appreciated anyway.
This is a perfect example of the problems between
old people and young people, between generations. The Laceys of the world – now
referred to as Millenials -- behave badly, and the Joneses of the world – currently the Baby Boomers -- also
behave badly. It's a tough mix, and timeless.
I'll share my reaction to "Okay, Boomer"
in the next installment of this blog. What was yours?
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