The term 'Crazy Cat Lady' tends to call to mind a single, older woman, living alone in a tiny, cluttered house with about two dozen cats. You know who I'm talking about: she wears sweat pants and a bathrobe; her hair is frizzy and flyaway; and a certain 'cat' smell lingers all around her. She doesn't really have friends, except maybe other cat ladies, because she really just prefers the company of her furry, four-legged 'family'.
In the mornings you'll see her step out onto the stoop, hear her call aloud to all the neighborhood felines while she dumps inordinate amounts of dry kibble into plastic bins lined up on her porch. You'll not see her much beside that, and you'll notice that no one comes to visit her because they can't abide the overwhelming odor of cat pee that permeates her home.
That, and the fact that she's half-mad. Each of her 'babies' has a name and a unique personality (even though they all look the same to you), and she spends her days having full-blown conversations with them. One of her cats will look up and meow at her, to which she will eagerly reply, "Yes, I know! I know!" and promptly go to fetch the treats. Sometimes she'll even respond with a meow of her own. It's almost eerie how she and the cats seem to be on the same wavelength. For these and other reasons, she tends to be ostracized by her community.
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| This a "Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure" that you can buy online. What makes this funny to me is that she only has, what? Six or seven cats? She really ought to be called "Average Cat Lady Action Figure". |
Sound familiar? That's the age-old portrait of the Crazy Cat Lady, and, sure, even while I was writing it, I felt at moments that I was writing about myself. But let me tell you why that label doesn't quite fit me:
1. I'm not old. I'm only in my mid-twenties. Though I've had cats all my life...
...Okay, reading back through, I've realized that just about everything in the description I provided also applies to me. Except the smell thing -- for the record, I bathe daily and I keep the litter boxes clean and odor-free. Also, I don't have 24 cats. Yet.
But it's true that I don't have many friends, and I don't go out much, and I'm 'terminally single', as I like to call it. I don't care too much about how I look or what others think of me. And I talk to my cats ALL the time. ...Let's just say I'm a budding Cat Lady.
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| This was a gift from a friend who may know me a little too well. |
But, hey! What's so wrong with that? I know many ladies who, it's likely, have also been labelled as Cat Ladies, and they are some of the most intelligent and compassionate people I have ever been blessed to meet. Why should being a cat lady be a stigma? Is it wrong to care about and even love those that may be considered beneath you? Is it unhealthy to surround yourself with the things that make you most happy? Are we degrading ourselves by committing our personal time and money to the care of those who would otherwise be hungry and homeless? If so, then so be it. I'm pretty sure all of us 'Crazy Cat Ladies' would just keep doing it anyway.
What I'm driving at is that, as humans, we all have our own unique passions and interests, and many of us feel a sort of responsibility to focus those passions toward helping others. Is that crazy? After all, the men and women who zealously protect our country aren't called 'Crazy Soldier People', are they? Those who feed the hungry and heal the sick in Africa aren't laughingly called 'Crazy Africa People'. No; instead, they are respected and admired for their contributions toward the betterment of our planet.
Perhaps our society should think of the Crazy Cat Lady in those terms. She may not be saving human lives, but she is giving everything she's got to help another living creature. Her contributions may be slight, but if everyone on Earth gave as much as she gives every day, imagine what a world it would be! Her heart is filled with love, and her home is always open to 'just one more'. If only everyone could each find the 'Crazy Cat Lady' inside of themselves.
"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
-Immanuel Kant
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