Jim Wright On What It Means To Be A Human Being

“She came to me, that cat, as a castaway. Literally, cast away by some cowardly waste of humanity. “I found her at my back door on a -20F Alaskan winter morning, a tiny ball of fluff damned near frozen to death.  Crying piteously, hungry, cold, and terrified.

“Now, the very last thing I needed at that point was another damned cat.

“I suppose the prudent thing, the safe thing, the conservative thing, to do would have been to shoo this unwanted immigrant away from the house with curses and kicks, send her back out into the Alaskan winter to find her own way in the world. Honestly, what did I owe this needy creature? I had my own problems, my own pets, my own cats already.

“I’ve spent my entire life in war zones around the world, one more life – and an animal at that – what difference could it make to me?

“As it turns out, I’m not the kind of guy who would leave a kitten to freeze to death – make of that what you will.

“I spent some time and effort looking for her people, but it became obvious fairly quickly that she’d been tossed out of a car and abandoned to her own devices in the midst of the Alaskan winter.

“And so, because there was no one else, she became my responsibility.”

And so, because there was no one else, she became my responsibility.

And so, because there was no one else, she became my responsibility.

.

And so, because there was no one else, she became my responsibility.

.

And so, because there was no one else, she became my responsibility.

.