Cats Celebrating Thanksgiving...?

Having lived in the United States for close to 10 years, Thanksgiving has become tradition for me, too. While the origins of the holiday may not mean as much to an Egyptian as an American, we all can find something we are thankful for and therefore have reason to celebrate this holiday. In fact, that thought came to me the other day as I was watching a street cat. Since I've been in Cairo - being a pet owner and animal lover - I've been feeling very bad for the stray cats and dogs roaming the streets here. With issues controlling the human population of this country, it might be too much to ask to have people spay and neuter their pets to control the feline and canine population. Add to that the smaller amount of people that actually care for animals and the "bigger issues" at hand here, it makes it an issue too high on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for people to even consider discussing. All you can do are isolated incidents of rescue or feeding or cleaning of these animals and hope they don't find their end under the wheels of a car. But alas, back to my cat story: the other day I found this street cat walking off with a plastic bag. Naturally, I was worried about what's in the bag and felt bad for the cat for having to dig for food. Upon closer inspection though, I found the bag full of meat trimmings, skin, bits of fat...the kind of stuff that looks disgusting to me but probably tastes wonderful to a cat! Of course my next thought was to be mad at the people that were throwing their garbage all over the place, intoxicating us with waste and not caring about their neighborhood, let alone their environment! But then I began to watch the cat more closely. The cat was walking head up, proud and with a menacing eye to all the other cats watching it. Her coat was shiny and clean - and that's a street cat! She walked over to a corner between two cars and started to tear open the bag, reveling in the huge meal, the prey, she has gotten herself. For a moment, I was glad these trash-throwing people had managed to make this meal possible for the cat. The circle was complete! Stray cats and dogs would be LOST without the trash people discard in the street!! Everything has a purpose!!! Even a stray cat will find it's nourishment where it is unwanted. Although WE still have to educate people about trash control, population control, animal control...everything control (!!), one cat can at least be thankful this Thanksgiving! ; - )

You Mean Ya Didn't Seeeeeee?!

A few days ago, a program on TV showed a 1072lbs man being literally cut out of his apartment and driven to the hospital. His family said he was always hungry as a child, and weighed 240lbs by the time he was in 6th grade! People told them it was 'baby fat' and that it would come off as he got older. As we know now, it didn't. To describe the man as anything human-looking is insane. He looks like a giant balloon with a knob for a head at the top. I don't mean to sound mean or anything. I felt terrible for the man! He said he saw himself as the 'Michelin man'. He couldn't move out of his bed, they had to tear down the bedroom wall to get him out of the place, and it took half a dozen people to do so. And while they were doing all that, he was smoking one last cigarette. Now, OBVIOUSLY, this man has some sort of disease, if not an addiction to food that has been overindulged over the years. He suffers now from several more problems due to his obesity. He didn't live alone. He's married. And here's the crazy part: his wife said she realized he was overweight, but didn't understand how bad it really affected him until they told her now! My first reaction was to think: How could you not see that?!! How could you not say or do anything until now?! But then I thought about how many times we are in denial when an illness or addiction clearly is affecting one of our loved ones. It happens to "other" people not us or our close ones. Loving someone is accepting them as they are. But to really love them is also to be their eyes when they can't see that they are tumbling head first into a darkness of disease, addiction or mental illness.The 1072lbs man has undergone gastric by-pass surgery and has lost 513lbs so far - nearly half his weight! Here he is "half the man he was" but with the best fighter mentality a man could wish for. Patrick Deuel, we all wish you the best!