There are many stray cats in our neighborhood. There have always been strays; but it seems to really be noticeable now. There is one particular cat stands out. He is all tore up with scabs and soars all about his head and face. His tail is bent and must have been lopped off at some point. It’s not bobbed. It’s more like a 3/4 tail.
This morning he was out front; but wanted nothing to do with me. This afternoon, he returned while I was working in the flower beds. I put out a can of food for him to try to earn his trust. He was more hungry than cautious. If he comes around again (and I believe he will), I try putting some antibiotics in the food.
He’s a hot mess. So he is named Hot Mess.
Hot Mess with a cute bunny behind!
5 comments:
Hi, Maybelline. Thanks for your thoughtful comment on my blog.
I deliberately didn't address the immigration or the flaunting of County Code you brought up.
And I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm kind of a coward and like to keep my blog a bit superficial.
Or maybe because....I like to think about the human beings and what they do and how they make choices.
My job where I work involves compelling my clients to comply with many, many ordinances, codes and policy requirements. I know they are on the books for a reason. I would never let an ordinance go unenforced in the course of my work.
But I also see how arbitrary some of it is.
And I also think - you raise a good issue about people choosing to do "illegal" things. But I think when people make choices, especially when they are desperate, the issue of legality is barely on the radar screen. Seriously - if your choice was to overstay your visa and be able to send valuable money back home to your family in Nigeria or Sierra Leone or wherever - or to go back to a screwed up place and be unable to support the people who depend on you - would something as arbitrary as a County Health Department Ordinance make a difference to you? Especially if you rationalized to yourself that you were providing something people wanted and you were doing it the right way.
It's funny, too, that I came to your blog to respond and found your post about feeding the stray cat.
In the end, it really is about the individuals, I think. The actual people (or cats).
We have to maintain our humanity and compassion.
So I can support laws and codes, and enforce them, and certainly support my government (local, state and national) doing what it has to do to enforce its laws.
But I can also celebrate the creative human impulse that is manifested in people like these street vendors, to do what they can in their personal family struggle to feed their families. Even when it is illegal.
Remember, these are not the people who are running drug cartels to enrich themselves, they are simply people making quesadillas.
They aren't that different from the American farmer setting up a food stand at the end of the driveway on the country road selling homemade pickles and preserves.
I appreciate your point - and I acknowledge that it's a difficult and complicated issue.
I'm so glad you are feeding that cat.
Hi, Maybelline - I wanted to address one other thing you wrote in your comment:
"Although I enjoy your photos, having downtown LA look like Tijuana isn't appealing."
The thing is - after some 30-40-50 years of decline in downtown LA, without the Latino culture and population that has brought a vibrant culture to downtown L.A., what would the place be? Have you seen desolated American cities like Detroit or others? I certainly prefer the quincenera shops and taco stands to vacant storefronts.
The established Anglo community of Los Angeles abandoned downtown perhaps a half century ago. Paradoxically, that's one reason its wonderful historical buildings survived - they weren't developed or demolished because the property wasn't considered valuable.
Someone told me once that the daily amount of commerce that takes place on Broadway in LA surpasses that which takes place on Rodeo Drive. I'm not sure if that's true or bogus, but given the amount of activity, I almost believe it.
it's actually differs somewhat from Tijuana, because it doesn't cater that much to partying tourist Anglos (although with the trendy loft scene that is changing somewhat.)
Again - complex issues. I appreciate your honest and intelligent dialogue.
OH NO!!! He's super cute too. Poor kitty. Thank you for feeding him.
FYI - Hot Mess was on the front doorstep this morning. He had a good breakfast with antibiotics.
I'm glad he came back, he doesn't look like he's starving thank goodness. Maybe Pumpkin will kill the owls. Buttholes.
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