SoCS: Pros, Cons, Statues, and Cats

August 15, 2020 by JoAnna 44 Comments

Today’s prompt is to talk about the pros and cons of anything and to enjoy!

Pros and Cons. It just so happens that I’m scheduled to be a speaker at an on line Braver Angels debate about statues and monuments. The debate “resolution” is this: “Removing statues and monuments will erase important periods of our parts of our country’s history.”

I am speaking for three minutes on the “con” side, disagreeing with the statement. Maybe I will share my notes in a later post, but history still stands and the confederate glorifying statues can go to a museum. We can’t change the past, but as Maya Angelou said, “…when we know better, we do better.”

The “pro” side, that removing the monuments will erase parts of our history, is hard for me to understand. But I will do my best to listen. I think there might be some fear that if we remove some statues, people will want to remove all kinds of statues, like Abraham Lincoln. But for me, it boils down to, what are the values and memories we want to promote. What parts of history do we want to glorify? Who do we want to admire, not just remember.

Braver Angels seeks to depolarize America by helping people listen to each other and try to understand which often leads to finding common ground, especially when we speak from experience, from our hearts.

I may be able to use these skills on a personal issue I’m working on. It’s something that upsets me very much when I let myself think about it….

Along with some other church members, I’ve been taking care of two cats who have lived at my church for at least four years. The younger cat, Gray, disappeared in early June while I was out of town. I know she was being fed. We figured she might have just found another home. I should not have been so…. naive…. ? lazy? distracted. But I’m not sure if it would have made a difference if I had started looking for her sooner.

In July, I heard someone in the neighborhood was feeding cats and felt hopeful she had just moved on her own. I put out flyers with her picture at the houses surrounding the church. That night one of the neighbors called me and told me they had called a wildlife removal person about some possums and he had also trapped my cat and taken her somewhere. “She’s okay,” he said, he just took her….. out of the city…. ” I don’t remember his exact words.

I was able to get the contact info on this wildlife removal guy and he admitted to trapping a cat at that location but said he didn’t remember where he let her go. He mentioned a farm in the next county and that sometimes he gives them to old folks. But he would not be more specific. The weird thing was that he seemed like he was trying to be nice, then the call was ? disconnected? ended abruptly. He called me back and asked me if I could take cats in my city that he catches….. It was rather bizarre. But I tried to build rapport to try to get him to tell me where he took Gray.

So, I’ve been working on this from various angles and have gotten a lot of support from cat people on FB who are angry… I can work on it for specific periods of time, then I become emotionally overwhelmed and have to take a break. I feel like I’m venting to you and could go on, but that’s probably enough for now. There have been some interesting developments…..

I ask that you please join me in sending good thoughts, prayers or wishes for Gray to be safe and loved.

Here’s a photo of her in the church courtyard with her Mama Cat who is still there at the church and doing okay, but misses her girl a lot.

Gray is next to St. Francis

I’ve written about our little feral colony over the years. Like here in 2016.

They’re not so feral anymore. But Gray is a good hunter. Maybe she’s okay.

…

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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Aug. 15/2020