Words My Cat Told Me Upon Being Asked a Question

My name is Oscar and I am a cat. I would say that I don't necessarily understand all people because I don't know all people. I am a little shy, after all. Though I must say that I do understand my own person very well.

Things in life are about me, mostly. I like to get a lot of attention, and if my person does not look at me first thing when she walks into a room, I call out to her just so she knows I'm here. I like to be in the center, though I don't like it when my person gets upset. Whenever I see her cry it makes me feel unhappy. Like the last time she was sad over something, I jumped off my cushy chair (where I was oh so comfy) and I plopped into her lap. My presence and purring seemed to cheer her. Also, she pets me and I like that.

Many have said that animals (and since we're on the subject: cats) don't have emotion. Well that isn't true. Cats do have emotion: I know it because I am very sensitive. My feelings do get hurt if I don't get the affection I need at that moment. The thing that separates cats from humans isn't the emotion, but it is the intellect. Even though I am able to write articles like this one, I am still just a cat and can't articulate things in a higher form the way my person can. So in that sense, I understand my person emotionally through and through. But she reads books and does things that I will never do.

There is this poem I like by an American poet named Robinson Jeffers. It is called "The House Dog's Grave." Even though it is about a dog and I am a cat, I like it nonetheless. The poem is about a dog speaking to his owner after the dog has already passed, and in it the dog is comforting the owner, telling him not to grieve. The dog is reassuring the owner that he lived a good life and "You, man and woman, live so long, it is hard/ To think of you ever dying./ A little dog would get tired, living so long."

I think, that as a cat, it is important for humans to remember that even though our lives are not as long as yours in terms of years, they are not any less rich because of it. I have lived a good life thus far and will continue to do so. I owe my happy life largely in part to my person. I know and understand her very well and she loves me. And when I see her sad, I long to put her at ease and let her know that I am here. If I were human, I would not want any less. But I am thankful to be a cat. I am very handsome.