Chester has a few pages scattered around here on PoC but I thought it would be nice to have a new page with some of the old photos of him and also new ones as Marion takes them of his progress (videos).
Just look at the difference in him already, from that tiny oil covered terrified hopeless little soul to the happy kitten he is now.
It’s partly thanks to the vet for shaving him and prescribing the medication he needed to prevent him developing problems from swallowing some oil, but most of all it’s thanks to Marion for her tender loving care and the good food she gives him.
Chester has touched many hearts and every day people are asking Marion how he is, he has many offers of a home for when he’s well and socialised enough to cope with the change and some people have been very generous with donations towards his vets bills, including Michael here on PoC of course.
He has made feline friends at Marion’s house and the gorgeous George has taken him under his wing too and keeps him in line with a bat of a paw if he pushes his luck with naughtiness lol.
Marion was a bit worried last night but today she says:
‘I was worried about Chester last night he didn’t eat his tea or supper and just curled up in his bed. Antibiotics finished the other day so had in my head he was going downhill. However this morning though not eaten much he is flying around like a lunatic again’
I think we all hope and pray he continues to recover and goes on to have a very happy long life. It seems a shame he was born feral and he had to live through the traumas he suffered in order to be a much loved pet one day.
Thankfully he is young enough to tame and hopefully in the future start to trust the people who only want to love and care for him, not to hurt him.
Updating video:
Please search using the search box at the top of the site. You are bound to find what you are looking for.
Chester is going to be neutered tomorrow, here’s wishing him well
It is his “rite of passage”. I feel for him. Good luck Chester. He looks so well and healthy.
The latest news is that Chester is on the way to recovery. He’s on antibiotics and is eating fairly well so we’re hoping that he’ll soon start gaining more weight.
Great news. What are the antibiotics for? He still has an infection it seems.
I think it’s a longer course to make sure the oil he swallowed has no long term ill effects.
It would break Marion’s heart (and all our PoC family and all CP volunteers too I think) if she lost him now he’s come so far and done so well.
Yes, good idea. It would be horrible if he became ill.
Heart melting photo…Chester with George
Oh….it does melt my hard heart. Truly. I’ll have to put it on a separate page because it is so good to see Chester and with a friend — and it is a lovely picture. Thanks for showing it to us. I presume Marion took the picture, Ruth. Is that right?
Yes, she did Michael, George was in a bad state when he went to her and she nursed him better and kept him, I think she will find it hard to separate those 2 now don’t you!
Definitely. Such a good photo.
This painting has been painted and donated by Starkindler Art for Cats Protection to sell/auction to raise funds for Chester and kittens like him. Anyone wishing to make a private bid should email ca*********@gm***.com
The highest bid is £30 up to now, but we hope to attract even higher bids tomorrow on our CP stall at our vets open day
Isn’t be just handsome!
Yes he is handsome and he is a little star. So happy he is loved and progressing. One of the best stories we have had. His coat is coming back well.
Chester is allowing Marion’s grand daughter to stroke him and to take photos of him, such progress!
Wow so many comments!! Chester deserves all this positive publicity because he’s abrave little man!! I’ve so loved watching his video with Prince and looking at his photos, he looks happier and more mischievous every day, Marion your dedication astounds me you have achieved so much with this little fella and it must be so rewarding to find that he’s snuggling into you 🙂 I wish him all the love and happiness in the world – he deserves it 🙂
George and Chester, this photo really touches my heart, two brave and beautiful boys together.
Love to see this. So nice to see something good happening in the world of cats. George is licking Chester. Great work Marion and the comments are awesome too.
My thanks to everyone for making this such a successful story.
Makes me want to cry-so happy!
Me too Dee xx
Just seen on Marion’s f/b page that Chester sat on her husband Steven’s knee.
Such wonderful news, great progress!
Question and answer article and poster is with Michael now, hoping it’s up today, get your questions ready for Marion everyone 🙂
Just woke up (knackered yesterday) so will be publishing it right now. Thanks a lot.
Ruth, very sorry to have missed the email until now.
Unusual for you to have a lie in lol I hope you feel rested now 🙂
Getting a bit tired, Ruth. Played tennis and that messed everything up physically!
It’s horrible when you can’t do as much as you want to without being knackered, my mind is a lot younger than my body lol is yours?
Wow that is so good it sounds to me like Steven is as kind as Marion is and fancy Chester trusting a male after what those toerag yobs did to him.
Just look at that tail!
This is a really nice photo. His hair is coming back. He is becoming a whole cat again. His tail is gorgeous. He is a little star.
sorry Ruth I should have said that is actually Prince in the photo 🙂 Chester was snuggled up by my side when that was taken:-)
Our branch has an education officer that goes into schools and CP provide sus with a lot of resources enabling us to educate the young, it is very time consuming as someone else said but can be rewarding, however CP policy is not to take cats or kittens anywhere on display or fund raising activities which we agree with a sits isn’t natural for them to do so though of course some cast would love all the attention.
We never take any kitten/s without first checking the mother and we always pay for her neutered as its one of our pet hates when rescues go out scoop kittens and not a thought for mum as whats the point. Sadly the multi cat houses who breed invariably lie about how many and always seem to either keep one back or go get another 🙁
We spent hours at a place yesterday where due to various problems that the people have the cats were breeding, it astonishes us that these people when carefully questioned divulge that they have had cat since kitten (oh not a stray then) and even have her registered at a local vet the vet which is the most expensive in the county! same vet they have told us they have booked to come and put to sleep the kittens, unfortunately we didn’t even see cat or kitten but by description have ascertained these kittens more like young cats now, its a cats paradise there no traffic lots of hunting and odd houses to feed them so we are working on TNR and don’t believe for one second that vet will spend all the time needed to catch these cats to PTS so that’s an empty threat as we also know if they wont pay to neuter they wont pay at all.
Thankfully we were able to wade through the lies and speak to other locals and a plan is in action 😉
Ah yes looking more closely now I can see it’s Prince, I think it’s so wonderful that Chester is snuggling into you, trusting you, well done Marion!
Still trying to think up those five questions for you Michael suggested an article on, I was hoping other visitors might have some, but only Rose so far has asked one.
Anyway maybe we should do the article with hers and leave it open for questions, I bet Marc will have some?
Oh gosh how awful Marion – I hope you can get all these cats and kittens away from these people for good. And if they want to keep a cat then neuter the cat. If its a question of money and you need money I will pay for the cat which needs to be neutered to be neutered. I can pay with paypal or anyhow you want. If there is more than one cat I’ll pay. We need to stop these kittens being born every year to these horrible lazy people. Let me know if I can help pay to fix the problem because its hurting my brain just thinking about it.
Marc I wish I was young, I’d ask you to marry me 😉
I wish you were middle aged too (I’m not young, I’ve got back problems!) 🙂
Back problems wouldn’t bother me, it’s your heart of gold I love and your love for cats, I’m not after your body lol lol
lol – well at least I don’t have heart problems 🙂
Mwe too! You would have fight on your hands, Ruth AKA! He’s mine!
Oh no, not another love rival, that’s 4 of us now lol
Wonderful news today!
Chester has started snuggling in to Marion, she says he thinks she’s a giant hot water bottle lol
This woman deserves a medal doesn’t she!
Latest pic of him standing up at the TV, sorry it’s not a very clear one.
I’m so happy he is able to trust – that really is wonderful news. Lets hope he can really put it all behind him and benefit from human love and care.
He seems like such a sweet little cat. You know I would adopt him from all the way out here in Switzerland if there wasn’t a waiting list. I’d be ready to find a way of getting him here and everything.
Chester would have a wonderful home with you Marc for sure x
Marc if I do the article on Marion can you think up a question/questions to ask her?
Yes – how does she ‘let go’ of the ones she cares for. I have cared for kittens that are not mine in the past and still do every year and I often burst into tears when they go away to new families. I have trouble with some of the adopters too – I feel none of them are good enough. This makes it impossible for me to foster in some way although I would foster if kittens needed it regardless I would just have trouble coping.
I’ll have a go if you like Ruth. Just suggestions that is all. Please reject if you think they are unsuitable. I am presuming – forgive my ignorance – that Marion is a cat fosterer rather than working at a Cats Protection facility. If I am wrong, sorry and my questions will be wrong too.
I’ve almost got the article and poster ready to send you Michael so thanks very much, yes Marion does all this from her own home, so I’ll incorporate these questions into the article, they are good ones.
My emails are playing up a bit today (frustration.com lol) but I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.
This is a great idea. It will be interesting to hear the answers.
Fantastic. I find the subject very interesting. I actually went online to see if there was a vacancy for a cat fosterer in Ham, London, where I have bought a flat, but no. In two years I think I might sell up in London and buy somewhere in the country and foster cats. Cat world.
I think the questions are spot on by the way! Thanks for including my sentimental one – it is a genuine thing I wonder though and I think that would be fosterers find it to be the last barrier stopping them from going ahead with fostering. I’ve read as such before.
I’d be so proud to look after another little orange boy who will probably grow into a huge orange boy – again 🙂
Uhmmm….you are the prime candidate. No question. Why are you in Switzerland? 😉
I’m sure there are many prime candidates out there we never heard of – I like to think that – it’s called optimism. Sadly one can only be optimistic about unknown things these days because the known things tend to be reserved for the negatives.
Thank goodness for people like Marion. I tell you if I was anywhere near I’d be volunteering there everyday if I could. I’m out here in deepest darkest Switzerland though – sometimes I wonder if I should be. Maybe I’d be more useful somewhere else.
I’d like to pay to have all these kittens and cats on this property mentioned neutered and taken care of. I’m sick of it. I’ve got another $1k if need be for it. I can’t stand it anymore and I’m far away so it’s the only way I can help. I would like there to be no more unwanted kittens with threats of being PTS in this place anymore and I don’t care how much it costs.
I’ve been saving up to donate anyway after our last commentathon – I thought it was a good thing to do and want to continue as and when I can.
He is showing his character. Getting more confident it seems to me. Good sign. Marion is great.
Just look at the size of those paws! He’s going to be a big boy.
Chester has very alert ears. They are frequently hearing behind him. Probably still quite a nervous cat. He is looking so much better though. Great to see.
Yes he’s still very nervous around people, it takes feral kittens a while to learn to trust humans, but in Chester’s case the first humans he’d ever met abused him so he has that trauma to get over before he can even start to trust anyone else.
I think it’s looking good that he is bonding with the other cats and kittens she has in care, hopefully he will see them trusting Marion and realise she’s not another abuser, but his saviour.
I wish I had been here for all this article but I had a back problem for the last 3 days. PoC moves so quickly.
Poor little Chester – he’ll be ok now but I hope he gets over any fears he may have because of what happened. He must be adopted by people with no children or teenagers.
Is your back a bit better now Marc? I hope so. I missed you. Yes PoC moves fast and you miss out if you can’t get here daily. Take care!
Marion will be extremely careful who she allows to adopt Chester, don’t worry.
Look out for tortie cats coming next from Leanne, I’ll put the link on your f/b page if you like.
Hey Ruth yes its alot better now thanks. PoC does move at such a fst rate that stories sometimes become old after a less than a day depending. I am glad Chester will be taken by somebody who is just right for him. I’m sure Marion will choose well and make sure he doesn’t have to face his fears where possible. Little children still have to grow up and might become nasty teenagers so it’s best to keep him away from anybody under the age of those who did that to him. Furthermore just a proper grown up or grown up couple would be much nicer for him I think. He needs lots of love and care so he can learn to trust. Can’t wait for the Tortie page, sure thing, post it on my FB page as you did with the last, that’s great 🙂
Sorry I turn out a lot of pages. I am aware of the need to give people time to read stuff. I try and do two a day. Sometime it can be more or less. I think I need to do that to keep the site alive because the internet is flooded with cat stuff and growing exponentially, daily. Hope you and your cats are keeping well.
Sorry to hear about your back problem, Marc. That happens to me if I do too much and don’t stretch. It eventually catches up with me. I hope it’s nothing serious like a disc problem– I hope for you it’s nothing that a little stretching won’t cure.
We have missed you!
Thanks Ruth – yes its a disc problem – I have a hugely herniated disc and a terrible lower spine. I will have to have an operation at some point for sure. It’s been ok but this time it got out of whack so easily it kind of scared me – I just sat in a bad position for a couple hours watching a movie – first movie I have watched in at least a year. Silly me – although I didn’t think it would render me unable to walk! I’m doing alot better now though thanks.
A wonderful idea but so very time consuming and I know Marion hardly has a minute to spare and the volunteers are flat out too, most go out to work also. I’m retired but I never have enough hours in a day and that’s only with mostly on-line animal welfare nowadays. Babz comes in from work to her full in box too.
There are never enough people to care about cats.
We have an event coming up in the car park at our local vets on Bank Holiday Monday, they are having a sort of open day with stalls and things for kids to do, Babz and I are womaning the CP stall with educational stuff and a small tombola to raise some funds and I think Babz might make some of her famous rocky road to sell too. Kids love coming to those type of events.
I’ll do an article and pics on it afterwards.
I used to go to schools many years ago with my late ex headmistress who was secretary of the RSPCA local branch, but the teachers didn’t encourage us much and their job is much harder these days with unruly kids they are not allowed to upset…..
part 2- I don’t know if you remember my objections to a poll published on some American cat site- one question was “what is the worst thing about having a cat?”. That would be a push-negative poll. I didn’t see the original poll, so I don’t know if it was balanced by “what is the best thing about having a cat?” (push-positive question).
If you want a REALLY BOLD idea, how about PoC getting help with writing and distributing push polls (appropriate to age level) into classrooms. Sshhhh… don’t tell… that would be propaganda… I know my explanation of the idea leaves a lot to be desired…. still…
I know what. I’ll contact some schools and offer to teach their students about cats 😉 Then someone can video me and we can sell the videos as a course in cat caretaking.
I remember Martha Kane in Malta teaching young children about animal caretaking.
I don’t know where I would start in “writing and distributing push polls”. Sounds interesting though. Think you had better come over to Blighty and teach us.
I think that would be great for you to do- contact schools and offer to teach a lesson about cats. It would certainly have the possibility of educating you as well (don’t mean that as a slur) as to students questions and opinions. Take the laptop. Show them the Chester vids. See what they think.
(will read link later).
As to writing and distributing push polls, best discussed in person.
Michael, Marion-
Okay, so this is a really wild idea. (or maybe it’s already being done by Marion?)
I will ramble on for a bit- some parts might work, and some might not. But, perhaps spark some further ideas.
Marion- is there a school near you that has students of the age that did this awful thing to Chester? Would you be willing to recruit a student of that age to take videos of other cats that are looking for homes? I don’t know the extent to which you post vids of other cats on your site. I’d guess that this is not top priority b/c it’s time-consuming and other things come first. I say a “student of same age” b/c that’s an age (if not too late) to start educating those who aren’t about cats and cat welfare. I would think that a teen chosen to video the cats would just be totally chuffed about this honor, and would spread the word. I can image the steps to make this happen in a US school, but don’t know if this would work in UK.
Chester is in a way the symbol of every cat, young or old who has been abandoned. Or the catification (play on personification) of such. Even if not every abandoned cat has been treated so badly as Chester was, there are bits and pieces of what he experienced for every cat that ends up in a shelter.
Bold idea. I guess the underlying concept is to get kids of the age of those who abused Chester to look at cats in a different way. Neat. It may be too offbeat. People are so entrenched in their ways that they are not able to accept new ideas.
I hope Marion picks this up. Thanks for the idea, VG.
Part of the idea is to make kids of the same age aware of what was done to Chester. I wouldn’t go so far as to assume that all of their age are as clueless as the oafs (not sure what you meant by ‘look at cats in a different way’).
Also, don’t think that teens are so “entrenched” in their ways that they can’t accept new ideas. I would guess that a lot of them have mostly unformed (not a typo) ideas about the issue of animal rescue and welfare. It’s an age where a lot of behavior is the outcome of peer pressure. (People have said similar in comments to the effect that it could have been one gang-leader pressuring the rest.. speculation, but possibly the case.)
I suppose one danger in the way I proposed the idea is that a student chosen for such a task/ honor, would be labeled as “goody goody”, and get ostracized on those grounds. Because teens do that.
But, the younger the age, the more fluid their ideas. This is a group that is worth reaching out to, in some fashion. I know that you do that in cat pages for kids. But, local is good.
Another idea would be to circulate class questionnaires (that would take teachers being on board). Don’t know if you’ve ever heard of “push-polling”, but the underlying aim is not to poll people, but to educate them so as to push them in the direction you favor. Used in politics. Mostly to push-positive, but occasionally the reverse.
Let me make up an off the cuff example- push-negative. Theme- we would like to know your opinion about politician X. 1) Is your opinion a)-d) alternatives from great to awful. 2) Did you know that politician X has the worst attendance record of any member of congress? Blah blah. (yes/ no). 3) If you answered “no” to question 2, does the information provided give a more positive or less positive view of this candidate for the 20xx election? (more positive/ less positive).
Modified- Teenagers are important because they (you) are our future leaders. We are interested in animal welfare, and want your opinions. 1) Are you aware that a small group of local teenagers tried to drown a cat in oil? (yes/no). 2) Here is what happened. Why do you think the teenagers did this? (various choices, carefully worded). etc.
This would have to be carefully crafted for it to work, as in work as a push-positive poll for better treatment of cats.
okay, that’s part one.
I was thinking of the teachers 😉
Ah, and I was thinking teachers might welcome a way to keep the kids busy for a while! UK is the nation of cat lovers, animal lovers. Surely you don’t think that a TEACHER would approve of what was done to Chester? 😉
i’m so glad people are phoning up about chester marion, i hope this means that other cats and kittens will be rehomed because of him too. i know everyone wishes him a speedy recovery and hopefully his new home is’nt too far into the future. who could resist that georgeous little face? pleased he is feeling a bit brighter again, you’re obviously working your magic with him!
Hi Leanne I hope you get phone calls for your cats and kittens to rehome as well,do you sort of work together you and Marion helping each other like that if you can?I think it would be a great idea for you to do a question and answer thing as well for POC.
I love it that you and Marion come on and tell us your news and I can hardly wait for your next colour of cats article,I vote for black and white next.
as much as possible rose, we worked together to rehome the abandoned cats from next door to ruth and barbara. we have rehomed a few cats and kittens but as one is rehomed we get two more in, i’m sure marion has the same neverending problem of unloved and unwanted cats and kittens. thank god not all of the stories are as horiffic as poor little chester’s story.
Chester latest video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPinXpGy6Bk&feature=share&list=UUO0T_WpPBPaAKAG3nmvvaMw
Oh lol what a little fighter he is I can’t bear to think of if he hadn’t been rescued
I’ll add that video to the page. Chester looks very happy in the video.
Chester continues to do well, alas we are inundated with calls from people who have a cat and kittens in their garden and we are doing our utmost to help the most vulnerable and neutering everything we hear of, being so busy not sure when I will get video put together but will certainly try.
Its so sad we try to help the same people and areas yet they still don’t help themselves 🙁 we took cat and kittens from one man last year and gave loads of neuter support yet still he rings this week to say yet more kittens and one 8yr old cat need neuter why the heck didn’t he tell us about this 8yr old sooner 🙁
The local army garrison is proving a real problem too with colonies of feral from cats left behind by soldier moving on and this is something we have tried for years to get the army to act on but without success, we are hopeful though that now something will be done.
its only thanks to people like yourselves that we are able to help at all so once again Thank You.
Hi Marion – thank you for taking such good care of Chester. I’m sure you will make sure he goes to the right people and won’t have to be confronted with kids anymore, especially the age of the ones who were so cruel to him.
If only people would do the right thing and make sure cats don’t have kittens in the first place. It’s so difficult because of these kinds of people who make huge amounts of difficulty and work for everyone else. Maybe you should say you will take the kittens under the condition that you take the mama and make sure she will get her operation so she can’t have kittens again. It’s not fair that you have to clean up after other people and take care of all those little ones when it could have been prevented in the first place.
Anyway thank you for everything.
I’m so happy that Chester’s journey is being shared here. Marion is an angel.
I know this little still guy has a ways to go, but just look at him now!
Look at those ears and those eyes! I’m hooked!
Oh Rose you do what you can the same as we do.
You rescue cats and you comment here, so you do a lot more than some people do.
It makes me feel good as well Micheal to follow a story live and see Chester rescued from deaths doorstep and nursed back to health and it shows what cat rescuers do that it’s not all healthy kittens needing homes but horror stories as well.I hate it when you read something and never hear any more once you’ve donated.We just want to know how it turns out and that makes me want to give if I ever can when I know I’ll hear more and especially see photos.
I wish I had some money to give Marion and other cat rescuers,I really do but I have to think my comments on here help add up for next times donation to a worthy cause because being alone with my 2 kids and cats I take in I haven’t a bean to give anybody 🙁
Rose, your contributions are very important. They do help financially and for support. The Chester story could have been nothing. Hidden amongst all the others. Thanks to us all he is not. His story is a role model for successful cat rescue and care. There is good in the story that is bigger than the bad bit. I’d love to adopt him myself. He represents all the abused street cats.
Ruth every word you’ve said is true, in the old days everyone kept an eye on kids and corrected them when they were doing something stupid (or not in your case)but nowadays no one but the brave dare speak up and kids get away with things and grow up thinking they can do whatever they want unchallenged. I think the oafs who tried to kill Chester have got off Scott free, what will they do next?
I’ve seen the latest video of Chester this morning playing with Prince the white kitten in the pictures above, Prince was quite poorly when Marion saved him from a woman who’d paid £60 for him from a backyard breeder because he looked nice with her other 3 kittens but didn’t want him when he became poorly (we heard later she’d “replaced him” straight away with another unfortunate kitten)anyway in the vid Chester and Prince are practicing their fighting skills and Chester even though half the size of Prince is jumping on him again and again with lots of rabbit kicks, nape bites, body slams and head locks so it looks like yesterday’s scare was just that and he’s fine.
Babara, I wonder if we could do an article about Marion as a Cats Protection fosterer. Nice article. I would her to video herself talking about her cats. I think it would be charming.
Beautifully said, Michael! I agree with all you have said. I hope little Chester will continue to thrive and that he will get more used to people.
Now we should be praying that the boys who abused him are caught and brought to justice. As long as they are out there other animals, and let’s face it people too, are in danger from them.
I can see young people in a group deciding to do something cruel and stupid. But when an adult approached and told them to stop they responded with threats and verbal abuse towards him. I know when I was young I did stupid things, but when I was yelled at by an adult I felt bad about myself and I took that seriously– especially if it was an adult I didn’t even know. Of course, back then it seemed every adult took it upon themselves to yell at kids. I was yelled at for playing in a park because I might get my clothes dirty, by a stranger. My sister and I were yelled at by a stranger for playing in the woods by our house. Someone driving by just yelled our, “Get out of there!!!” We were actually on our own land at the time.
Today though it seems that people became afraid to ever call out anyone else’s kid about anything. Probably because parents are so quick to defend their little monsters and kids themselves are not taught respect and would probably attack you (verbally if not physically) if you criticized them in any way. We have a generation of kids who cannot take correction from anyone. That’s really sad.
This is the modern way. There is a lack of respect for almost everything. One of the great problems in Britain is the lack of respect for teachers. Some teachers deserve it but in my day we were frightened of a lot of the teachers.
It is about parenting, discipline, work ethic and respect for elders. But no, not in the UK anymore.
You take your life into your own hands if you dare criticise someone for doing something that is obviously wrong.
While we were cleaning up Sunday morning following the fireworks show at Camp Luwisomo a bunch of teenagers came down on their bikes to use the beach. But they started putting the canoes and paddle boats into the water and trying to sink them and they were screaming and hollering to the point that it was very annoying while trying to work. When I saw what they were doing with the boats I told Jeff’s father to go handle it and he did. He didn’t even yell, just talked to them, and suddenly they quietly pulled all the boats back up onto shore and left without another word. So even good kids can do some really dumb things in a big group– like a mob mentality– but good kids will come back to their senses when an adult confronts them.
One bad kid can lead the others down a road they would never have thought to go. I hope they catch the ringleader, the one whose idea it was to hurt Chester. There honestly could have been some kids in that group who felt badly about what was happening and seriously regret it now. But the one who had the idea, the one who didn’t care, the one who lead the taunts against Chester’s rescuer– he’s the one who needs to be caught, whoever he is, because he’s the one who will do horrible things even by himself. He’s the one who could easily beat, rape or kill someone someday if he hasn’t gone that far already. There’s a monster out there and I hope the police don’t take the attitude, “Well, it was just a cat and he’s fine now so all is well.” All is not well.
It’s much better to catch these stinkers now and drive the point home that some behavior is simply not acceptable and if you continue in it you can spend your life sitting in a prison cell than to try to deal with them after they have committed other crimes like burglary, armed robbery, rape, assault, murder… Why wait until those things have happened? The cops solve murders and other crimes all the time. They can solve this one IF they want to. They should want to very much.
I was afraid of a lot of my teachers, too, Michael, when I was very young. We don’t have to have the kids afraid. Martin Luther said that if the only motivation to be good is fear of the rod on their backs, then children will only be good when that rod is present. Society today doesn’t even have the guts to use the rod, so there is nothing to keep these kids in line anymore. Our schools are great gates of hell, just as Luther predicated they would be if we took the Gospel out of them.
Kids need to know that no matter how much they mess up they are still loved. To me that love, available to us all, is shown nowhere more clearly than in Christ suffering on the cross. God loves you enough to bear your punishment. He traded places with you. You are bad enough to deserve that same punishment, but you are loved and important enough that Christ suffered it for you. Teach a kid that and he will not torture animals.
Jeff Dahmer said exactly that while in prison when he was asked how he could have done such things. He said that without Christ anything is possible and permissible. If all of creation is actually just a random accident then why is it wrong to do whatever feels right at the moment? Dahmer claimed he was converted to Christianity in prison and he claimed that had he known Christ prior to committing his crimes he never would have went as far as he did.
I do believe that as people have lost the Gospel they are losing control of society. Ancient societies were brutal and cruel, especially to children, elderly and animals. This is the world the Bible was written in, the world it came out of, but I believe it changed that world because it contains God’s Living Word, the same Word that spoke the universe into being and it can speak faith into human hearts. Faith that will manifest itself in actions.
Because of Christ we have hospitals today due to the a concept of helping your neighbor– a neighbor who might be a stranger to you. People learned to care for all human beings as part of God’s family, not just those in their biological families. Of course we don’t follow that perfectly, but a sinful human being will always live worse than he believes. He can never live better than he believes. What humans believe is very important.
If a person believes that every animal is truly owned by the God who made it, and that every human life is doubly valuable having been created and redeemed that belief will be reflected in behavior. If it isn’t then that person has no faith, no true belief. Faith without works is dead.
But when we drive out the teaching of the Gospel– leaving a hollow religion all about works, but not about Christ’s sacrifice for us– it will not have the power to change hearts. This empty faith will cause the appearance that having Christianity in a country is of no help. But the church in Britain has become a hollow shell with the Gospel gutted right out of it. It’s happening in America now, but there is still hope for us. You can still find faithful pastors who preach Christ crucified instead of just a bunch of morals and self help garbage.
Michael, you have said the Bible can be useful just for the morals there. If you use it that way it is dangerous. Any morality set up without knowledge of God’s love and forgiveness is dangerous and harmful. When people realize they can’t follow those rules (and none of us can really be as good as we want to be no matter how hard we try) it leads to despair and greater evil. Humans cannot believe in God or any type of higher power without fear that leads to despair unless Christ bridges that gap, showing us that we are right with God, thanks to Him.
Looking at the world I don’t see evidence of an evolutionary process that will make things better and better. It looks to me more like the order the Bible puts it in. Everything was created good, man rebelled and screwed it up, everything got worse and worse because of man. It seems more logical that man sinned and blew things royally than that man was just another product of evolution. Evolution doesn’t explain evil. According to evolution evil couldn’t exist. But we know it does exist. Little Chester knows it exists.
Lovely comment, Ruth. Thank you for taking the time to write it. How do you suggest that kids get back to respecting others? Belief in God is waning, certainly in the UK. The world is becoming more secular.
A little bit of feat is not a bad thing. People act on instincts and emotions if ill-disciplined. Some fear prevents bad behavior.
The Law must come first and therein lies the fear– If there is a God we are accountable to Him. What might He expect of us as His creation? Not hard to see where we have gone wrong. The Ten Commandments confirm our failure. Then comes the Gospel or Good News that God punished Jesus instead of us.
It has to be both because the fear can only work short term. It leads either to despair or denial. Humans will always try to hide from God. Only Jesus can draw us out of hiding with the news that He has made things right for us, He has paid our account. If there is Law and not Gospel you have short term changes but they don’t last.
But Gospel without Law is useless too and we have a lot of that. Why do we need Jesus if we are told that just “doing out best” is good enough? People don’t want to hear they are sinners so preachers don’t preach the Ten Commandments or the fall into sin. If we are all really ok if we just try we don’t need the bloody Jesus on the cross and he becomes just a really nice guy and our friend, someone who will give us anything we ask for if we just believe in him. Some churches actually preach a gospel of prosperity– have faith and God will make you wealthy. What a twisted mess.
The human heart will always twist things up and ruin them. We have a spiritual side, which is too often ignored, leading to a lot of problems for youth raised without any spiritual guidance. Some people say they become like animals, but that is an insult to animals.
For me it comes down to two things– a child must be punished when he does wrong, which should usually be simply allowing him to experience some disappointments due to poor decisions he made instead of shielding him from those consequences. Then he must know at the same time that he is loved and forgiven. In this way parents mirror the Gospel through interactions with their children.
We are seeing social policies that work against the Gospel– soft on crime judges who imply no one is really bad, just sick or a victim of poverty or a bad upbringing– so no one is punished. At the same time generous benefits take the place of fathers and of hard work. People become lazy, siting there too busy watching tv to discipline their kids. They may punish them now and then, even severely, but there is no love.
The Gospel isn’t just something to preach in church, we need to live it. Every child needs to hear that he did wrong, but he’s forgiven and loved. Children should be asked to confess honestly what they did that was wrong. They learn then to deal with the fact that they made a mistake– and though that mistake may have some consequences they don’t like, they know that their parents forgive them and love them. Too many kids just grow up feeling that they are a burden and that no one loves them. Or that they are such screw ups that there is no hope and they may as well just be bad. Too many kids only hear a word spoken to them by an adult when they do something wrong. Except to be yelled at they don’t get any attention from the adults in their lives.
This can be fixed without mixing church and state simply by having government policies that encourage and reward hard work and intact families while providing actual punishment for crime. We have exactly the opposite right now in Britain and the US.
Yes parents looked out for each others kids misbehaving in our day, we knew if we were doing wrong and were cheeky when told off by any adult, that we’d be in big trouble at home.
Most kids have no respect now for adults, even their own mothers, but bad mothers don’t talk to their kids and reason with them about right from wrong, they just shout and swear at them so they grow up doing the same to other people.
I’ll never forget one tiny boy here who shouted at me ‘Do yer wanna see my willy Mrs?’ and his mother stood there laughing and scowled when I said ‘No thank you, put it away’ yes it was funny and I laughed later but that kid might be a flasher now!
It disturbs me because in the long term it’s going to cause massive problems in the UK.
Also, you can bet your last pound that the boy who was rude to you will also be abusive to a vulnerable stray cat.
Yes and his mother would just say he didn’t mean to hurt the cat, he was only playing.
The single mothers further into this estate are feral, never mind the kids!
We are lucky to be right on the edge, it’s like a different place.
Chester makes me feel good. That isn’t the point but it is nice. It is nice to see a positive, successful cat story, live and as it happens – almost. This has been such a successful story for all and for PoC — so far. I want to thank Marion, Ruth plus everyone who commented because each comment is a bit of money for Chester and cats just like him.
Let’s hope he continues to improve and then find a beautiful home where he will be loved just like he is loved by us all.
Yes we hope and pray Chester continues to improve, I think he’s amazing the way he came through all that trauma and is now playing like a normal little kitten, honing his feline skills.
Does Marion say she is very hopeful that Chester will make a full recovery?
Ruth, I’d like you to interview Marion about her work generally. Just five questions and five answers and the article just sets them out. Or if you are feeling more adventurous you can video her! No chance 😉 I think you ladies are wonderful. The work you do is so good and needs as much recognition as it can get.
If Marion hates the idea, I totally respect that and you can forget the suggestion.
I think Marion is hopeful that Chester will recover both mentally and physically, if anyone can help him, she can, she’s a miracle worker with cats.
I know she’s absolutely snowed under right now with phone calls about taking kittens in, on top of all she has to do looking after cats and kittens and all the paperwork. Her foster carers are full up and overflowing too. Babz and I would love to do that but we don’t have the room and we have Walter who hates other cats apart from Jozef.
I don’t think I could do a video interview, I’d freeze up lol or get the giggles and I’m conscious of my North country voice, I know people think we talk as if we are singing but to ourselves it sounds dog rough lol
We’ll maybe think up the questions and answers, do you mean for a new article?
Just had an idea Michael, what would be even better than me asking Marion 5 questions, let’s get our PoC family to think up what questions to ask her. I’m sure they would love to join in.
Ruth MM, Marc, Rose, Jane, Rudolph, Dee, Valley Girl, Elisa, to name just a few and you yourself of course.
What do you think?
I can think of one right away
How does Marion keep her sanity and her temper when dealing with people like than man who keeps phoning her about more kittens and then oh he forgot to mention his cat isn’t neutered?
And Dorothy of course, how could I forget her?