We call him Max. He’s a 17-pound lovable lug. He’s also a wimp.
Max’s favorite activity is sleeping on our bed. Or the couch. Or the chair next to me as I type. Or in my recliner. If he were an outdoor cat, he would starve. But he and Minnie are indoor cats and Max takes the word “indoor” very seriously.
While Minne Mayhem, his sister who is into and on top of everything, does the ankle-rubbing from the first minute and wants to get up on the table when we have people over for a night of Rummikub and Five Crown and Swoop and rare times with dominoes (we lead such exciting lives), she is escorted into the laundry room for the night, we wont see Maximus. She’s a take charge cat.
Max is a timid soul who finds something to get under or a dark shelf in the closet under which he can be concealed when we have visitors, even if they’ve been here a lot. Eventually he will come out, carefully looking around corners to make sure it’s safe.
Minnie was lounging on our back porch the other day and I saw Max watching her. He frequently sits in front of the door but when I open it for him to go outside, he hustles away.
I told him, “You can’t spend your life just looking out the window, Max.”
Whether it’s true for a cat or for a person, it’s true. Life isn’t to be viewed from inside. It has to be a participatory experience. Take a risk, even if it only stepping out onto a porch.
Be involved. The only things resulting from looking at the world through a window is that those who are participating outside might create something you don’t like to see.
So do something. Don’t be afraid. Help change the view.
It is the DOING that makes life rewarding, that makes a difference. Nothing great ever happened because people just sat on a couch.
Today we have too many window people talking about how bad things are while the few—as usual just a few—who seize the opportunity and accomplish something. If it’s not good, it might be because we had too many watchers and not enough doers. Safety is not created by watchers. Danger, either.
We have elections coming up in a few weeks and various entities are spending millions of dollars to influence those on couches, those who are too timid to participate, those who look at the ballot issues for the first time when they go into their voting cubicle.
Our country won’t be better; our country can’t save itself; the human condition cannot be improved by the Maxes.
Go on. Get out the door. Do something, don’t just watch others.
Be a Minnie, not a Max.
Take charge. Get outside. Pay attention. Be involved.
It’s only your state and your country that we’re talking about.
Minnie wants YOU!
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