Sister Wendy is a well known personality in the UK despite being a reclusive nun. She lives in solitude in a caravan. She is smart and well educated and likes to be surrounded by God. She likes to be swimming in God I think is the expression she used. She is known as an art expert. She is 81 years of age at Feb 2011 and still as sharp as a tack.
She is a special person. She likes cats. She has been offered kittens on a number of occasions, she said.
She turned them down. She didn’t explain why on the TV programme that I have just been watching. Although by way of explanation, she did say that “cats are people”. Those are her exact words. I think we need to take those words seriously. Although many, many people will think them quite odd.
Not being able to find any information on the internet which helps me to interpret Sister Wendy’s saying that cats are people (perhaps it is the first time she has used it), I am obliged to figure it out myself.
I confess that I love the phrase. That is why I am writing about it. I have always felt that cats or any animal are our equal. We should treat them as equals. This feels right to me. I know it feels right for many of the regular contributors and commentators at PoC.
Perhaps she means what I feel. That we are all equal in the eyes of God. We might as well say we are all animals. It is the same thing. Only saying that cats are people is nicer because people have perverted the use of the word “animal” to mean something derogatory, something lesser than humans. Sister Wendy raises animals to the status of people.
As Sister Wendy wishes to live in solitude having a cat for company would be like having a person living with her in her caravan. This is why she declines the offer of a kitten.
That is my interpretation of Sister Wendy’s “cats are people”.
The video below was pointed out to me by Dorothy Wandruff. She does this and it is very useful to me. Thank you Dorothy. It is a video that fits in nicely with this post. The two things came together this evening.
{Note: Videos get pulled from YouTube sometimes and I don’t have notice of it. The screen goes blank}