261. The Word “Only”

Mother Cat

Mother cat was restless this morning.  Strange how I still call her “mother” cat even though her kittens are now three years old, but right from the start she had always enlisted on the aid of a human to assist her in her labours of bringing up her kitties and so I feel quite involved in that “motherhood” of hers.   

But  this morning she was restless, meowing and manoeuvring around my being to persuade me to stop and pick her up for a cuddle; she was lonely, lonely for the touch of a human being. 

Cats, magnificent and utmost independent creatures! Yet, here was one with insistence encircling my being for a human touch.

Now, I ask myself, if such proud and sovereign creatures succumb to a sense of loneliness so much so they are in need of a human touch, how much more does the nature of mankind, so vulnerable and much more emotionally fragile feel a void that he himself alone cannot fill?  How much more does the brittle sensitivity of mankind’s consciousness need the comfort and presence of a human touch?  How much more does mankind feel the empty space of loneliness?  For mankind is lonely by birth. 

But often we humans are so careless of our affections that at times there is no other human being around when the need is greatest and are left to meander restless with our loneliness.  Unlike cats we do not have it in us to seek the consideration of another.  So today it would dispel somewhat that void if in one’s daily routine of actions we include a big, small divergence- making a fuss of someone, even if that someone is “only” yourself.