Monday, January 22, 2007

My Cat Is Deaf

My cat is deaf and it can’t hear anything. He has a name, ‘junior’ but it’s not of much use since I can’t call on him to come or anything. But it’s still comforting to give him a name that he doesn’t understand to refer to him, after all, I do talk about him and I do talk to him even though he doesn’t hear. There’s some hidden benefit to him having a name that’s not directly visible.

But the thing is that sound does not exist for him. I used to feel sorry for him, but a friend of mine said, “Why should I feel sorry for him? God created him that way.” He’s a white beautiful cat and sometimes those white beautiful cats are born that way. I don’t feel sorry for him because he doesn’t feel he’s missing out on sounds. His world exists using one less sensory perception, or one less dimension.

Another reason I don’t feel sorry for my cat is that as humans we may be living happily with a similar lack. There may be some things that exist out there that we just can’t perceive, can’t pick up, can’t sense. We may have some clue to it, but it doesn’t seem to exist in our world. When I whisper in junior’s ears he can feel the air out of my mouth but not the sound. When I snap my fingers he can sense the movement or even see it, but not hear it. He has clues to its existence but he would not know what it means to hear. He can only see my lips moving and my hands yelling, but he can’t hear me.

I don’t feel sorry for my cat because humans are deaf too, and some of them claim that no such thing as sound exists. This narrow thinking, based only on what we can capture, reminds me of creatures who lack certain senses but cannot compensate. My cat might be deaf, but it’s no fool. Wish I could say the same about all other humans.

6 comments:

N said...

you have a cat?
this really is getting to be too much.

Will, we need to talk!

hehehe :)

Wael Eskandar said...

I actually have three..

--_-- said...

Yeah you shouldn't feel sad for your cat, deafness is sometimes a gift!

Wael Eskandar said...

deafness is sometimes a gift? you mean like hear no evil?

Mumbo Jumbo said...

I always think of cats as little little furr balls of love. I feel like God created them to love and be loved.

Wael Eskandar said...

Well mumbo jumbo, I agree that usually that's the way cats are.. (mostly when they're hungry) but sometimes some cats look like they're pure evil almost like they're trying to take over the world ..