Pests

I walked down to the dumpsters to throw away some recyclables I had been gathering in my apartment. As I went to throw them away, I saw a whitish-blond cat climb out of one of the dumpsters and into the parking lot a level above where I was standing. A few weeks ago, I was throwing away a couple of pizza boxes when a cat jumped out of the dumpster and just about startled the life away from me. This led me to an interesting thought: what is a pest? What difference is there between vermin and a pet? I have always loved cats, those furry, purry creatures that make me smile just by rubbing against my leg or climbing into my lap. But what role does a cat have? They don't guard a house and they don't drag children out of fires (with maybe the odd exception). They're just assigned the role of companion, a role they're not particularly suited for. They're just a change in fate from climbing around in garbage. It's entirely a matter of subjective perception.

Take rats. Some people keep rats as pets; for most people, rats are vermin, annoying at best and dangerous at worst. It's all subjective. We choose arbitrarily to call one thing a dear pet and another a pest. Heck, some people keep poisonous snakes and tigers as pets.

But what does this thought lead to? Sadly, I have the feeling this question also applies to us. One person's pest is another person's loved one. Do we ever treat people as they are, or are we always dependent on our subjective views, the entirely arbitrary responses we have to people based on the tiny part of their lives that we observe? With a different first impression, could an obnoxious jerk have been a hilarious scamp? Could arrogant have been self-assured? How much of what we think we know about people is based on our own wishful thinking or skewed perception?

Well, it's a thought.