The Tail of the Mangy Cat...

...was what caught my eye this Saturday.

I was leaving my apartment early this morning to meet my friends for a run...and just as the complex gates opened to release me to the streets, I saw it. I did one of those moves where you extend your neck forward and lurch over your steering wheel to get a better look. As I neared, it appeared to be a monkey. And it was limping. For a split second, I thought of calling the zoo to alert them of a missing inmate.

And then, the gates opened more and I inched closer to the black moving monkey-like ball of mange. I was so totally absorbed that at this point, my window was down and my head was cocked out the window. And as this thing slowly gimped by, I scrambled for my iPhone to get a picture. Just as I held the phone out the window to hit "capture," the thing slowly turned over its right shoulder to make eyes with me. I froze.

It was a cat. It wasn't a monkey. Its ears were wet and cemented to its head. Its tail was bereft of fur, and as if it was made of wire, bent in an almost 90 degree angle and moved with the morning breeze. For almost a second as we looked into each other's eyes, I was given access into the soul of this particular mangy cat. And then, it turned around almost ashamed and in a simultaneous been-there-done-that, "I know I'm a freak" move, kept limping its way down the road.

I sat for nearly 60 seconds with my arm extended, phone still in hand out the window in position for evidence of what was going to be the prodigious, "I saw an escaped monkey" story. And my heart truly began to ache. (I understand how an outsider (anyone but me) might think this is the most bizarre tale of empathy. But there was something about this particular mangy cat...) I can't help but think that this was once a masterpiece created by the same God I was created from. As is each masterpiece, the creator is proud and hopeful of his work. For that split second, I understood and felt all the pain this creature was going through. I was literally stopped in my tracks, unable to move or look away.

I suppose the same goes for humans; we often make poor choices, and sometimes, end up in a place where we are quite literally gimping along and looking for the smallest scrap to live off of. But what I can't wrap my brain around, is that that can be anyone's destiny.

I thought about this encounter for the better part of my Saturday and realized that this mangy cat might have gotten to me in a way no human conversation has reached me in a long, long time. Now, does that mean I want to take this cat in and milk him back to life? Hell no. I won't touch that cat. But I will say, that stupid cat may have touched me in a way I didn't even realize was needed and certainly provided ample food for thought, pun un-intended.

Thank you, mangy cat.