For me, this is an interesting story of family strife and cat love. Two opposites really. The story kind of highlights how a person can love a cat but dislike their mother and sister. And that mentality sticks for their whole life. AITA: Am I the asshole?
SCENARIO: the Reddit.com website, a woman asks, “AITA for choosing my senior cat over my sister and potentially allowing her to become homeless.”
When this now adult woman was a child living with her sister and mother, her mother preferred her sister. That meant that she had to wear hand-me-downs from her sister for example. She still feels aggrieved by her mother’s preference for a sister over her. I’m sure that happens a lot in many homes in various ways. In fact, it happened to me because my parents loved my sister but they always put me away in a boarding school from the age of 11. I never did get along with my sister and I always resented this.
When this aggrieved woman was 30, she saved the life of a newborn kitten that she found in a bag. The kitten’s siblings were all dead. It appears that somebody had thrown them all away in a bag. Not an uncommon scenario.
She raised the kitten throughout the summer but when school started her mother got rid of him without warning. She spent a week finding him and saving him again. They’ve been together ever since. Her cat is now 21 years of age. He is a senior cat in good but failing health.
Her vet recommended expensive medical treatment but she has a good job with a good salary.
Her sister became a housewife and it appears that her husband lost some money through non-fungible tokens. They are kind of broke she says and they came to her for money.
She decided that she couldn’t give them money because she had the expensive treatments for her geriatric cat to pay for. She didn’t want to be short of a hundred dollars which could save his life because she had given away money to her sister. And of course, she harboured that grievance from all those years ago which is a barrier to her helping. She asks AITA in making this hard decision.
The communal responses that she is NOT being an asshole. In Reddit.com language this is ‘NTA’ standing for ‘Not the Asshole’.
A neat story as mentioned. My thoughts? This is a good woman who from childhood has had a tender heart and a sensitivity towards animal welfare. Her cat has lived a very good and long life. That’s thanks to her.
Her mother appears to be a cruel person in dumping her young kitten that was loved and rescued by her daughter. The kitten had been dumped twice in their young life at that point in time. Pretty cruel? This woman is right to shun her sister and mother. They are not good enough for her.
Note: it might be fair to say that her mother’s treatment of her and her preference for her sister may have benefited her and been a barrier to her sister in the long term in terms of success.
Man asks AITA for telling girlfriend to give her cats to a shelter. Response: YTA.