Cats are happy, people are crazy

A very contented Chester

When a cat curls up and sleeps for a long time, it is contented with life. I’m not. Not sleeping long hours; not contented.

I wake up in the small hours of the morning and I think of tasks left undone in the measly 24 hours allotted per day. Can’t the Earth slow down, lax as a cat, and make its orbit 48 hours to make our day twice as long?

Sometimes I lie awake in the dark, constructing stories in my mind, everything flowing into place. I finish, only to see my work melt in the morning sun.

So I compose silly ditties, hoping the mind game will summon the Sandman. No such luck, and the Gudam poems are born. They are short and easily retained in memory, so they exist.

I email them to friends. I explain:

Gudam is short txt for gud a.m.—good morning: very early morning, when sleep wouldn’t come and the darkness of the night mingles with the false light of dawn. It isn’t as noiseless as we think; and the images are so different in perspective they tend to morph when the sunlight pours in and dispels the somber thoughts molded in the throes of the birth of a new day.

I hope you understand that, because I’m still figuring out what that exactly means.

Anyway, here’s a sample of what is bred when moonlight through the window churns my mind:

The moon is lunatic,

Sending beams to break my sleep.

Ay, buwan, tinimbang ka ngunit kulang,

Di mo ba alam, insomniac ako, hunghang!

There are times I drift back to sleep, but it’s still early when I reopen my eyes. Then I realize what wakes me up.

The sun is shining,

The bird is chirping,

Soon it will be crispy.

My breakfast will be ready

When it is crunchy.

I think cats have it easy because they don’t need much to make them happy.

Cats are happy, people are crazy. When we don’t have money, we set our goal to gather wealth. Billions of our species use their lives to accumulate money, stressing out their lives to old age so they can give their hard-earned money to doctors, who treat them for arteriosclerosis, stroke, or psychosis.

But there are a few cat people who take everything in stride; they accumulate and use money to enjoy life. Money is the tool to a good life, they know, and life is the precious spark that should not be spent for money’s sake. But the majority in this planet knows otherwise. No wonder this planet is a mess.

I envy cats.

Top 10 Friendliest Cat Breeds in the World: http://www.petmedsonline.org/top-10-friendliest-cats.html