Strange Cats

I've started and abandoned two posts this morning. We'll see how this one goes.

Have you seen the meeting of two strange cats? It rarely goes well.

Cats are fiercely independent. Wild cats can form loose societies, but they are more unstable than your average dog pack. Cats just aren't designed to group.

Have you ever met someone who instantly put your back up? That's a cat colloquialism, by the way. We've all seen it, and we all know what it means. Impending fight or flight.

When we're young and we have this reaction to another person, our parents tell us to try to get along anyway. That person may turn out to be your best friend. You can't know instantly that you don't like somebody. Stuff along those lines.

As you get older, you may realize your parents were right. Some of the time.

As I've gotten older, I've learned there are some people in the world with whom I will not get along. I've learned this because trying to get along with those types of people doesn't work. I'm finishing my third decade. I've had some years to develop and test this theory.

I should try to get along as best I can. I'm not justified in treating such people like a spit-up hairball (which I used to do, by the way. I've matured a lot in my old age). But, I'm not going to put excessive time and energy into making such people my best friends.

Why not? Because I have a whole world of people I can interact with more easily.

I am not insane. I am not a fighter. I do not meet challenges like a grizzly bear with cubs.

One thing about me should be clear by now. I am a student. Once I learn something, I practice it. I can be taught, as the genie would say.

And I have learned certain people rub me the wrong way without intention, and I usually have the same effect on them. Unless I have a compelling reason to interact (such as being co-workers in the same cubicle), I will keep the interactions to a minimum.

Call it "irreconcilable differences." Sometimes walking away is the best gift you can offer.

You might think I'm missing out on opportunities. Maybe. I think of it as applied learning, otherwise known as wisdom. It is wise to count the cost before building the house of friendship, and to my mind, some houses are too expensive.

Just one of those things rattling around my brain this morning as two of my cats take time-outs for fighting.