Black Cats

 

“If a black cat crosses your path, it signifies that the animal is going somewhere.” ~ Groucho Marx

I love cats – all cats regardless of the color of their coat. I’ve had many cats in my life, mostly grey cats but I remember one regal one that was black and white. All my cats have been rescued so there was no chance to pick the color or breed – I got picked.

Earlier this week, I came across an article about the myths and superstitions surrounding black cats. I learned an interesting fact – there are more black cats than any other color because the black gene is most dominant for felines. Who knew?

Some commonly held myths about black cats are that they are witches in disguise. Also, black cats are bad luck, especially if they cross your path. However, in some cultures, the opposite is true. European sailors believed they’d have a safe journey if they brought a black cat on the ship. In Scotland, prosperity is believed to be coming your way if a black cat appears on your porch. In France, sighting a black cat, especially if it’s walking towards you, means something magical is about to happen. Interesting.

As humans, we each have our ‘black cats’. A group of people we either fear, hate, or revere for no good reason. It may be people of a certain tribe collectively, people of a certain profession, or even people with a given physical feature. We hold biases for some of the flimsiest reasons ever. Most of the commonly held myths are passed on from person to person and from generation to the next. No questions asked, no research carried out – just belief and carry on. For example, I’ve heard that ‘all tailors are liars.’ I’ve sought the services of several tailors; some have been honest, and others have been liars. Every one of them has been unique in their skill, craft, and, tale spinning ability.

Everyone is an individual. Just as every cat is an individual cat. Integrity is a choice we each have to make no matter our profession, tribe, or gender. And I would like to believe that on a basic level, we each know this but for some reason, we still propagate myths and superstitions about people without getting to know them or their motivation for why they do what they do.

Cats do not get to choose the color of their coat. A tabby may have a 4-kitten litter that has black, white, ginger, and grey kittens. If you watch them at play, you will realize that they only know that they are cats, there is no discrimination or recognition of coat color. It is just a feature. Animal wisdom? Maybe.

Humans are made in God’s image. Fearfully and wonderfully made too. So why do we not use our given intelligence to look past superficial characteristics such as height, skin color, tribe, or profession? Why do we hold on to our myths like a protective cloak while in essence, those myths act as a shield against us knowing and being known by our fellow man?

Seek to discover what motivates the people you deal with. You may just discover you have a skill you can share and leave them better than you found them. Just don’t lump them together with their ‘kind’ and treat them like black cats have been treated the world over – with unfounded, baseless fear and hate. You would not love to be in their position, don’t put another human in that place.

“One of the biggest problems with the world today is that we have large groups of people who will accept whatever they hear on the grapevine, just because it suits their worldview—not because it is actually true or because they have evidence to support it. The really striking thing is that it would not take much effort to establish validity in most of these cases… but people prefer reassurance to research.” ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson