A Life Lesson - My Inspiration from a Little Black Cat

Foreword

This post is far off my usual topics.  It's a reflection on a little inspiration coming from the strangest places.

But who doesn't need that once in a while!

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This week has been one of those weeks.  You've probably had them, where nothing seems to go right.

In work and play, I've had projects go sideways, problems big and small plague me.  Like zombies from the grave, rookie mistakes I made months, or even years ago came back to bite me.

It was one of those weeks that leaves you asking yourself "Why am I doing this?"  (Looks at bank statement).  "Oh yeah, that's why.'

But even in this week of frustration, a ray of inspiration came to me.  And strangely enough, that inspiration came in a form I would have never expected.

A couple of nights ago I saw two of my cats, who are brothers and littermates, get into a little playful "rough and tumble". It's not uncommon, they like to roughhouse with each other.

The contenders were...

"Runtley" earned his name because he's the runt of the litter, he was born a little guy, and now, fully grown, he's small and slight of build.

This is "Runtley the Runtling"

His brother, "Scar", earned his name because he was missing a chunk of fur under his eye when we adopted him, a product of an unknown kitten misadventure. The wound has since healed, but the name remains. Scar is bigger, bolder, and stronger that his smaller brother.

This is Scar.  He's the bigger and bolder one.

The two cats wrestled on our hardwood floors, rolling about and pawing at each other as they played.

Naturally, I expected the bigger, tougher Scar to come out on top.  He had every reason to.  He has a size advantage, he had a weight advantage, he's even the more confident of the two cats.

Scar as a kitten. Bearing the mark that named him

But to my surprise, the Runt twisted and rolled, wrapped his front legs around his bigger brother, and with a heave from his back legs, rolled Scar and threw him to the floor.

The Runt's "baby picture". You can see how tiny he was.

My mind's voice shouted in it's best UFC tone: THERE'S THE TAKEDOWN! 

Scar got up and ran off, the fight knocked out of him for now, the round going to the undercat.

The victorious Runtling gave chase, as if to say "How 'bout another round!"

I instantly thought of the Mark Twain quote, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."

Perhaps in this case, it was a cat instead of a dog.

But in a few minutes, a runt of a black cat taught me that we all have disadvantages.  We've made mistakes, and we've all suffered setbacks.  Some of us were given a disadvantage from the very start. 

It's easy to give up and make excuses, but if you stick with it, you might just beat the odds.

Sometimes you have to be the scrappy little runt in the room, who isn't the biggest, strongest, or most confident.

Sometimes you just have to be too stubborn to quit.

Scar (left) and the Runtling.  In spite of their wrestling matches, they get along!