Roza and Margarita Riaikkenen's
|
NO CAT – NO PROBLEM By Roza Riaikkenen Published in Pasupati magazine
c.2002 Our family moved into a bigger
and more comfortable house. Everyone felt happy and secure except our little
playful cat Basya. It appeared that our new neighbours also had a cat, named
Debbie, and this cat got used to consider our front and back yard to be her
territory. Even the appearance of Debbie was frightening: almost twice as big
as our Basya, with flocks of red and black fur sticking out in all directions
from her sides and face. Debbie’s manners were in harmony with her appearance,
and she was desperate to protect her territory by any means. From the first
day, she couldn’t stand Basya: she made her run all over the yard, she jumped
on our window to reach Basya even from behind the window – the window was
covered with her saliva. Eventually, she bit Basya so severely that it was
difficult for the vet to save her life. Our cat was distressed, and we
realised we got a problem! When we asked one of our friends for advice, she
told us: “Poison the neighbour’s cat! No cat – no problem!”
Oh yeah, this was a customary
way of solving problems. Debbie was stronger than Basya, but we people could
use our power over Debbie. How simple! You need only power, no love or wisdom
is necessary to solve your problem! This strategy, if changed to: “No enemy –
no problem!” has been adopted and put into action by people of our civilization
long ago. People from different
countries and religions try to eliminate their problems by either pushing their
unwanted “enemies” away or simply murdering them. By acting in such a way, they
attract similar efforts from their “enemies” because “similar attracts similar”
– this is the law of Nature. In fact, they become counterparts with their
enemies: they do the same job with means and tools at their disposal, and they
experience the same type of understanding that we now symbolically call: “No
cat – no problem!” Can we really solve our
problems within this understanding, or we will only come to an endless “vendetta”
with unpredictable consequences? We asked ourselves: “Are we really ready to
hurt other beings for our comfort, and would be comfortable, if other people
adopted our strategy?” If not, then we should reject this strategy for
ourselves and try to find a different way of solving our problems. We understood that we had
received not only a problem with cats, but also a lesson related to the human
society. If we are incapable of solving our local problem without bloodshed,
then there is no hope for the whole world! We decided to try to give the
world its chance, though at a glance the situation
seemed to be absolutely hopeless… Eventually, with our neighbours, we made a
timetable for the cats, when they would be allowed to walk outside. We tried to
prevent them meeting till both of them got used to their new conditions.
Sometimes they would break our timetable – they are only cats! – but the hope remains that love and wisdom will prevail over
the blind power of hatred and the world will eventually receive its chance! |
|