The Food Chain

My cat is lovable, cuddly and a source of great joy, she is also a ruthless killer. Unprovoked, she kills with amazing quickness and, when necessary, unbelievable patience. I watched her leap straight up four feet and grab a moth out of mid-air. Her killing isn't so troubling, because the victims are several notches down the food chain. Dogs are capable of killing humans, so their attacks are big news; psychotic, serial killing cats are no danger to us, so their killing is amazing and sort of insignificant instead of sickening and wrong.

Actually, our perspective on human killings is sort of compartmentalized too. Few people fret over the daily killings in Kenya, Tibet, the Gaza Strip, L.A., New York or Atlanta, unless you live near there or know people who do; if it's far enough away it almost doesn't matter.

My cat rolls over and over, enticing me to pet her. She briefly grabs my arm and playfully tries to rip out it's soft underbelly with her rear claws while mock-biting my hand. I look at her eyes and see the joy in them and I'm glad she's so small; she's definitely an emotionless killer when she wants to be. I'm pretty sure she's psychotic.