Dear Friends,
Several months ago my cat groomer pasted a picture of my kitty Kiku on Facebook. I did not know about this until I took her back to the groomer recently. The owner of the facility told me the picture of my cat went viral and about 20 people forwarded it on to others and other sites. I did not know what she was referring to at that moment . She then showed me the picture of Kiku that ended up on IMGUR and received over 3 million views. Another person pasted it on facebook and it had over 10, 000 views! I was pretty astounded not only because of the number of hits on the picture but because the picture looked nothing like the kitty I knew and loved! It was a picture of her in the bathtub with a leash around her neck holding her in the tub.
My first response was feeling very sad for Kiku realizing the depth of her discomfort. I have to be honest though it did make me laugh as well. I know she feels much better after she is groomed. She has very fine hair that gets matted very easily especially since she doesn’t like me brushing her belly. I have learned that the mats can be very painful. Also, when her fur is really long, her eyes get weepy as she has a sensitivity to her fur.
After obtaining the IMGUR site, I went home to read all the comments about the picture. Again, was still amazed this was my cat people were talking about. Some called her the Satan cat. One person said she looked like she had 3 kids and a mortgage, (that particularly made me laugh!) One person said she worked at her father’s veterinarian clinic and has seen many angry cats but none as angry looking as my Kiku in this picture. Many referred to her as a “him”.
Many people gave words to what Kiku could possibly be thinking basically making me feel I should probably lock my bedroom door at night and keep her on the other side!! Too funny. There was one person who said she could tell this was a sweet kitty. That made me smile as well as I know she was “feeling” her energy and not going on purely the physical picture. One person also said that she would never trust a person that took their cat to a groomer!
This all made me contemplate how often we make assumptions on first impressions. I know a lot of the comments were made in fun. But it still made me think about this issue. Little do these people know that Kiku is a very sweet cat. Yes, she is a bit of a drama queen at times but hey that doesn’t make her “Satan’. We all have our dark sides. I remember many years ago seeing a picture at a party of myself and I think I looked like the equivalent of this picture of Kiku on IMGUR! It was scary to see this part of myself displayed in a picture. I think if anyone met me for the first time looking like that they would have run for the hills I am sure. And yet, there were so many other parts of me that were fun, lively and sweet.
This picture of Kiku was probably showing her darkest side and her worst hair day! Literally! I’ve been contemplating on times I have made judgments on people who were having bad days. Perhaps they were extremely rude, unkempt, belligerent, and my assessment at that moment might have been accurate. However, the key words are “at that moment”. If we take a picture in our mind of people in their darkest hours and cement this picture in our heads with all the negative words attached to it, we are being very unfair to this person/people and often we do this to ourselves as well. Many of us have probably had “ugly” moments that we have showed to the world and would love to take back if we could.
I’m wondering if I/we can be more gracious and hold people and our own selves in a state of grace. What I mean by this is, can we allow people to have their ugly bad hair days and also allow them to be human in all their foibles and wonderful qualities. Can we suspend judgment when we meet a person or animal in that place of darkness until we at least know more about them? Can we have compassion and provide kindness to these people and ourselves knowing they/we are really hurting inside at that moment. I believe this is one of the greatest gifts we can give to another or to our self is to accept each and every person as they are, a mixture of many traits. It doesn’t mean we have to hang out with them but it does mean we get to be a more loving person which makes our lives even more beautiful.
I am attaching a picture of Kiku (below) showing her as the pretty sweet girl that she is. I want to have some balance put out in the internet ethers for her. If you want to see the other picture you can go to http://imgur.com/DNLIVcc. I’m sending both pictures as they are such a beautiful reminder to not be so quick to judge. The IMGUR picture is a part of her that she shows only on a rare occasion. And really, who wouldn’t be angry being forced to take a bath (especially when they hate water) and have a leash around their neck at the same time! The other picture below is the main personality of sweet Kiku. I’m hoping these pictures will serve as a reminder the next time you/I are tempted to judge another person or ourselves for dark moments. Remember, inside every person is a sweet, lovable Kiku waiting to be acknowledged and loved.
Namaste,
Rosemary