Cats Really Speak Danish.

My two dads, Hans and Per, have 5 cats. Four of them are Siamese (think Disney´s Lady and the Tramp---[sings] "we are siamese, if you please..."). The other one is a Burmese named Knul. Actually, they are all named after former Kings of Denmark, and are all males. That´s right. No women in the house. Not even the cats. Living there, at least.

In any case, one of the most eye-opening experiences I´ve had thus far in Købehavn (I can spell it like that because I´m on a Danish keyboard right now--its the danish spelling for Copenhagen, fyi) was watching my homestay dads praise, play with and scold the cats--all in Danish!

Well duh, Jon. Obviously they would speak in danish to their cats. Yes, I know. But what struck me was how, the first time I heard it, I thought to myself "the cats can´t understand danish..." And then it dawned on me that my cats at home, Ginny and Nellie (or Blackcat, as I like to call her), understand my english just about as much as Hans and Per´s cats understand their danish.

I felt so stupid. Of course they wouldn´t understand english or danish--they´re cats!

Clearly, it isn't the words that mean as much as the emotions behind them. Sometimes, it´s not so much what we say a how we say it.

We approach our lives in the same way. We assume that all the messages we need to get will be in plain english (or your language of choice). Maybe, just maybe, we shouldn´t be listening for the words, but for the emotion. Every day, we live our lives thinking we´re right because no one has told us we´re wrong. Perhaps something is telling us to change, we just aren't listening because we don't know what to listen for.

Or we just aren´t willing to hear it.

blessings.
jon.