Does it work?

KXBC:

kuro.shiro.neko was blogging about Japan and somehow the subject touched on Maneki Neko (招财猫), ie, those sitting cat statues you see in Japanese or Chinese shops/restaurants. One of its arm is moveable and seems to beckon you in. Apparently, these cute little things are beckoning fortune into the shop/restaurant.

When we were visiting Hokkaido last year, we noted very few stray cats and dogs in the streets. And the strays we saw all seemed very well fed. Perhaps most of the strays have been adopted and are living a relatively comfortable life.

How we wish Singapore can learn from the Japanese in this respect. Give the strays a chance to be adopted into our home and if they cannot be adopted, let’s seek to make their lives in the streets easier. Allow them to live. Don’t cull them just because of some complaints by cat/dog haters. If I apply this culling logic to humans, I think half of the primary schools in Singapore will have to be shut down permanently. I know most people will say you cannot equate a human life to a stray cat/dog’s life but to the many feeders and volunteers, they are their “children” they feed and take care of daily. These strays reciprocate with purrs, head butts, belly rubs. They give back 100% love unconditionally. They may fill a certain void in many lives. I cannot say the same thing about humans. How often do you see parent-abuse cases reported in the daily newspaper? How would you feel if one day, your child does not come back home for dinner? Will you be worried about his/her safety? And how will you feel if you learn from a neighbour/friend/relative that he has been captured (and culled!!!!!) by the authorities for making a din in the shopping centres/book shops/libraries running and screaming because there is a complaint against this inconsiderate behavior. Does this sound familiar?

Let volunteer organizations like the SPCA, CWS, Metta and ASD continue with their TNR (trap and release), mediation and adoption programs. With time, we will see good results. Most neutered/spayed cats are very docile and do not mess up the environment. We humans mess up our estate much more than all the strays in Singapore put together. Take a look around your estate early in the morning before the sweepers begin their work and you will see what I mean.

I seemed to have strayed from my original topic matter. Ok, back to the original topic about招财猫. After Kim Kim came into our lives, on the first day of Chinese New Year, we will bring her out to the front door and then we will lift up her front paws to do the 招财thing. We do this with all our cats without fail every year.

Obviously, it does not work because we had never won Toto first prize these few years. Haiz... Waste our time and effort. Hahaha...We'll continue trying though.

Have you ever done this or even thought about doing it?

PS: Actually Yuan Yuan wanted to post her story but somehow the picture cannot upload. So she will have to wait...and I still miss the block’s feisty calico which had gone missing since last year.