Amazing Cats; or "Are you a Cat or a Dog?"

While attending a religious retreat one of the excercises we had was on introspection and learning more about yourself. The leader for the excercise would give us a pair of words, we had to decide which we felt we were most like then stand on one side or the other of a couryard. Once this was done he would ask each side why they felt that way. Some examples of the pairs:

Are you a mountain or an ocean?
Are you water or wine?
Are you a whisper or a shout?
Are you a cat or a dog?

It was interesting to not only discover how you saw yourself, but also how others saw each side of the pair. For instance on the last question, dogs would answer:
Because I'm loyal
Because I like to play
Because I'm hard working

and for a cat:
Because I like to do my own thing/am independent
Because I'm a bit aloof
Because I like my alone time

I think this was a great excercise to see how you see yourself and also interesting to see how people see each side of the coin. And even better it's actually a fun game to play; to see if there is a common thread between you and your friends (e.g. do you tend to hang out with people who are like you, or different) and to discover how your friends see themselves.

So cats are aloof, sleep a lot, can't be trained, do their own thing at their own time, are finicky, and fey. There's a lot of truth to this or else people wouldn't think this way but like so many things it's only part of the story and there is always another that lies beneath the surface.

I found this story on cats, training cats, and their abilities in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/211816_agilecats.html.

(As an aside Seattle has two newspapers, the Seattle P-I & the Seattle Times. The P-I is considered the intellectual/business oriented paper and the Times is considered more focused on entertainment/events/lifestyle. For me it was also interesting to see this in the P-I instead of the Times).

Here was irrefutable evidence that cats can be trained to do many intricate tasks. And why not? As the article states: "After all, the cat is one of the most athletic creatures on earth -- flexibility that puts a yogi to shame, excellent balance, keen jumping, and pound for pound, Superman-strong."

But what also stood to my eye was the difference in why cats and dogs do these courses. According to Shirley Piper: "Dogs do things to please you. Cats do things to please themselves."

As a cat lover, it was joyed to see some press on the positive qualities of cats that most people tend not to notice - such as thier beauty and agility. Yaay cats!

But I think it's also good and equally important to self-reflect on which you are, a cat or a dog. In the end it doesn't matter which you find yourself to be - both have strenghs and there is no right or wrong answer - what does matter is that you know yourself.