Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The World is Not a Wish-granting Factory


The title is a quote from The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green.

It's written from the perspective of a teenage girl with terminal cancer.
Besides the suffering of physical deterioration and treatment, there is anguish a dying person feels because her condition is causing pain to her loved ones now and will do so after her passing.

Here at Golden Grain Farm we have lost three of our barn cats to the cruel seduction of the half-ton motor. To partake of the warmth of a recently turned-off engine, cats will climb up under the hood and when the vehicle is started again ... chop chop. Or if the fan doesn't get them, they jump down -- right in front of the moving front tire.

Maybe now we'll start remembering to honk the horn a few times before turning that ignition key.

Lest ye think it no matter, because there remain four felines: Not the case. We are fond of all the cats, sweethearts every one, and tears of regret were shed over each of the three. Bimbo (last year's kitten), Carsten (orange shorthair this spring's litters), Cookie (also in this year's litters, he was a black persian with a lion's mane of white undertones; gorgeous boy): We'll Remember You.

Tears of a very different kind have been shed after receiving the horrible news that a local man has died in a house fire. I can't even find words to say. It's an awful thing.

The world surely is not a wish-granting factory.