CBrajkovich Ramblings

This image really strikes home when you read the title: This is my little brother’s friend pinning a ribbon on him, after finding out my brother didn’t win any ribbons at the school’s track meet. Yes, I found this on Reddit. Yes, there is another lesson here.

We’ve all been taught that competition shows who will be the winners and who will be the losers. But do we even realize that we are the ones who create the winners AND the losers? What if we gave everyone the same chance? What if there were no favorites? What if we saw the depth within us all? What if we all gave a ribbon to someone, and then got a ribbon from someone else, and that trend kept going on around the world? What if we all encouraged the differences instead of the similarities? What is there was no list of acceptable and not? What if we all were allowed to be who we were born to be, with no barriers to crawl over?

Well, we’d all be winners. And maybe we wouldn’t allow laws that suppressed and condemned to come into being. And people who transgressed on another’s soul wouldn’t be allowed into places of power. And crimes would not see the light of day because everyone would have a single positive moment to lift them up from the darkness. And bullies would no longer try to hurt the weak because they wouldn’t learn how to be bullies in the first place.

Just think, a positive world could be reached – all because every one of us got a ribbon for something that we’re good at: being ourselves. It’s something we should think about.

This little kitty belongs to a group of people working at this print shop, including a great guy who’s also a comic artist, Daniel Puch. As you can tell, I fell in love with the kitty from the very first image (this is my favorite that Daniel shared). After all of the love that these guys gave the kitty, their boss welcomed the kitten into his own family. How can you not fall in love with this little face?

I hadn’t heard too much about this kitten (though I think about it a lot) until Daniel mentioned that someone had shot it while it was outside away from its home. Needless to say, this is so heartbreaking, but especially more so because it’s a defenseless animal. Lately, the level of animal cruelty that I see in this world has been really bothering me more than usual. Perhaps it’s the unwelcome acknowledgement that there are people out there who really love cruelty.

Optimism doesn’t always run at the forefront of my views, as I’m more of a pragmatic realist. But part of me is an optimist when it comes to believing that everyone is capable of doing good. It’s the one idea that I can’t shake no matter how old I get.

I think that even mean people have their reasons that stem from their own hurt. So, before I can accept that people who abuse others (any living creature) who are weaker than them are not completely inhuman, I really would like to understand why they think that they can get away with this horrifying behavior. Lately, this behavior is rampant among people who are little more than spoilt brats who always got their way throughout their lives. Unfortunately, no one taught these people about restraint and selflessness. Frankly, they’re ruining the world for the rest of the caring people who learned to overcome the selfishness.

At least the world has more caring people who choose love over cruelty. I read about it every day, and see examples all around me. Hope is alive because of these good people who are working hard to stand up to the selfish people. Thank goodness for all of these hearts of gold.

I just wanted to put this image up to share with everyone, as Daniel shared it with the rest of us. This one little kitten (though it’s no longer a kitten) made an impact on quite a few lives. And now it’s hurting because of some really inhuman people. I’d like to think that I wouldn’t respond badly if I ever ran into the person who shot this defenseless creature. But I’m not sure that I’d be able to not act in kind – I’m still a work in progress. I hurt when I see another living creature hurt. I will still stand up to protect the defenseless, even if I knew that I’d get hurt in the process. It took more than that single person to hurt this kitten. It also took the gun company who made the gun and ammunition. And the lobbyists who continue to push for reckless gun ownership. And the police who terrorize the minorities until they become true thugs. And the surrounding community that allows people to stay as bullies, instead of showing them another way to be. It’s never a single person who commits a crime. It’s a community, and we see that fact everyday with each new crime.

Let’s stop the cycle together and find a better way to coexist without all of this mindless violence. Hopefully love beats cruelty and this kitten makes a full recovery. I know that there are many animals out there with similar or worse stories. But this is my story because this little kitten found its way into my heart though I never got to meet it in person. That’s just how love works. When it wraps itself around your heart, it’s there to stay. Our hearts have an infinite capacity to love. We just need to be reminded of that fact.

Kitty, please get better. I’m sending love your way. And there’s a whole lot more love from your immediate family who raised you from that day they found you. That’s a whole lot of love. I just hope that it’s enough.