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200 words, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, gifts, giving, good intentions, helpful, open-minded, perspective, tolerance, understanding
Cat Food Is For People – Seth Godin
photo found at http://www.morenormalthannot.com
The above quote was the title of a recent post written by Godin.
He wrote that even the gifts we give others are at least as much about how they make us feel to give them, as they are about how the recipient of the gift feels.
He concluded by saying if cat food was really for cats it would come in mouse flavor.
Truth is, most of us wouldn’t buy mouse-meat cat food because it sounds disgusting, and since kitty doesn’t buy her own food, pet foods contain ingredients that appeal to us.
Seth’s post got me thinking how this phenomenon occurs in other ways.
Like when we view other cultures and their customs for example, we interpret them according to our own beliefs.
Often, especially when a certain custom offends our own sensibility, we want to enlighten our fellow humans with our version of what is right.
If you think about it, it’s kind of arrogant.
When we position our beliefs as superior over another’s beliefs, we lessen our ability to understand and care about them.
~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~
talktodiana 
Diana, when I got up this morning and looked out my window, two little corpses of mice lay on the doorstep. The thing is, my cats hunt for the sport, not for survival. They never eat what they hunt (except for flies, which must be especially tasty!) because they are full and satisfied on their cat food. So maybe mouse flavour isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Ha ha!
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Maybe or… like humans they have learned to prefer processed foods over whole foods! 🙂
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Hmm. Good point.
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or not! hahaha ❤
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It’s new look on the site isn’t it? (Sorry I see so many!) Really nice.
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I really try not to do this as people are a products of their learning and culture…but sometimes I don’t care! 🙂
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Well when you feel really strongly about something, right?
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‘xactly. i don’t care about your custom where young girls are raped by older men under the auspices of ‘marriage’ and animals are treated heinously.
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Oh I am so guilty of this (pre-judging people).
It is something that I am trying to improve on.
great post.
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I think it’s how we’ve adapted and might be a tad related to our survival. You know…be able to judge a person or situation so we can decide if we will trust them or it…
so maybe it happens automatically, but we can still control our behavior? I don’t know, what do you think Elizabeth?
Diana xo
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Yes, we can always control our own behaviour.
I think, having been hurt, I wonder whether I had been too ‘forgiving’ of people in the past, whether that is what my problem is. Now I think that is the correct behaviour, and it is not my fault if the other person behaves badly and misuses my trust.
New identity photo, I see?
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You are a wise woman Elizabeth! Yes, new photo – it’s my Stampede look and it has that picture of me and my daughter in the background. I miss her. ❤
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I have a photo of my daughter as a five year old on my desk too. I miss her and I miss my mothering role. I think that is why I keep the photo of her as a child near-by rather than her as the determined 26 year-old. Because I sort of accept that her childhood belongs in the past and so therefore so does that role.
Off topic from your post a bit xo
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A great analogy! Maybe that’s why I keep that photo close by as well. 🙂
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*puts down meatball sub*
Damn it… 🙂
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LOL whenever I’m not sure what somebody is trying to say, I just take it as a compliment. 🙂
Thanks Meg!
Diana xo
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You’re full of wisdom D.
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Funny, that’s what I think about you too Kristi. ❤
Diana xo
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Well said, not so easy to implement!
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Thanks Lisa! Practice, practice, practice. 🙂
Diana xo
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Amen to that, Sistah! Think Residential Schools and all those other forms of “Missionary Work”: not to mention processed food, baby formula, GMO’s… (How on earth could anyone survive without The Great White Way?):
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Yes, we don’t have a pretty track record – there are good things too, I imagine. ❤
Diana xo
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Of course there are some good things too! But, like Lisa (great advise, not so easy to implement) and you (practice, practice, practice) both said, I’d add the olde “if, at first, you don’t succeed, then try, try again”. (‘Cause, I figure, so long as you’re still working on something, you’re bound to get better at it; )
Oh, and Happy Canada Day!!
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it’s a really good point…..
it’s like cat food it directed to people not cats.
chicken flavour, lamb flavour, beef flavour etc.
G.
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Yes, I’m waiting for Poutine and mac and cheese flavoured cat food to come out!
Diana xo
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Mouse flavour.
Yum !!!! 🙂
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eek!
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Hi Diana – could you bring yourself to buy sea-food flavored cat food ? 🙂
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Yes I could do that Bill haha – I read your comment on my phone first a few hours ago and cracked up laughing – thanks for that. 🙂
Diana xo
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“Often, especially when a certain custom offends our own sensibility, we want to enlighten our fellow humans with our version of what is right.”
How very true, Diana.
I’m currently posting my Altan Mukhali stories every Wednesday and not one episode goes through without someone hinting (ever so politely) about how male-dominated those ancient Mongol times were.
Their cup remains full.
Peace and blessings,
Eric
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It never occurred to me to comment on that Eric!
If folks are referring to multiple wives, this would have been crucial to the survival of, and growth (I am assuming) of the human race when the population was low.
As far as male dominance goes, I guess it depends on time period and culture. I remember studying First Nations people and in eastern Canada they had clans in long houses and ancestry was traced through women and each long house had a woman in charge.
Anyway, I’m no expert on this subject – I could be totally full of it. 😉
Diana xo
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There were certain parts of India and Indonesia where women had multiple husbands – as recently as the 1950s. Who is to say that was wrong. For me, if it works for you and you’re not hurting or forcing anyone – go for it.
You’re a lovely lady, Diana – well read and generous in thought, speech (words) and spirit. It’s my pleasure to know you.
Peace,
Eric
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Thank you for your very kind and generous words Eric! It is my pleasure to know you as well. 🙂
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This is so true. Great post!
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Thanks so very much my dear!
Diana xo
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Yes, and not only do we lessen our ability to understand and care about others’ beliefs when we consider ourselves superior — we also lessen our ability to reflect upon and understand our own experiences. Excellent post. 🙂
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So true Meg! Thank you for reading this post and leaving such a wonderful comment. ❤
Diana xo
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This is oh so true and relates nicely to my last post on some of the more irksome things foreigners experience here. It’s SO interesting to think about how everything we interpret is only ever going through one sort of filter, which is the “this is what I know, so it must be right” filter.
I think we have such incredible opportunity for growth when we drop what we “think” we know and open ourselves up to the possibility of new perspectives.
Empathy and compassion are key if we are to become more understanding of the whole.
I love this, great message/thoughts!
~ Andrea ❤
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Thanks Andrea. I’m so glad you liked it. 😀
And you’re right. It does relate to your post and I’m just remembering how I indicated that the spitting really gets to me. Didn’t catch myself then, did I?
Seriously though, just hearing that sound makes my stomach wretch!
Diana xo
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Well, I think it’s fair to say that we don’t have to like everything, but it’s the judging of it as being right or wrong that’s maybe more at the heart of the issue.
I have to catch myself all the time, especially here, to just mellow out and see that it may not work for me but it obviously does for others.
A definite work in progress… 🙂
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ahh you make a good distinction – thanks Andrea!
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Sorry but I’d have to disagree on the spitting thing. It spreads infection; plain and simple; no getting around it…
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Ok now I can only think of is how cats like to eat birds and bird flavoured food would be even more gross than mice flavoured food
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really? they have chicken in cat food, they’re birds! LOL I think mice are more gross!
Diana xo
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Yup! Back to the spreading germs thing… Did you know that mice find their way (back to where others have been) because they track through their excrement? (Sorry Diana, I know you were already retching before):
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euwwwwwwwww! 🙂
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I love the simple truth of this! What might be different about the world if we listened not with judger’s ears but with learner’s ears!
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Just imagining that makes me smile Ian.
Diana xo
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Diana I never thought of that, there should be mouse flavoured cat food. My father taught us to appreciate other cultures and beliefs. What a boring old world it would be if we were all the same. Great post thanks. i watched my cat devour a poor little mouse the other day because I was late with his can of food.
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(smiling) and maybe your cat is grateful you forgot Kath?
Diana xo
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I know because I get all grossed out and then realise he is doing a great natural job feeding himself and keeping mice out of my house Diana.
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I’ve only had one cat in my life and he would drop gifts of dead mice at my feet!
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Doesn’t it depend, at least a little, what that that belief is? If someone believes that driving without seat belts is A-Okay, or that cheating others is just what suckers deserve, or that women are inferior to men, doesn’t that deserve someone saying something?
It’s certainly true it begs the question: How does one determine between harmful beliefs and others that are just opinion or matters of taste? The trick, I’ve always felt, is to question beliefs, especially our own!
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I agree Smitty, the only beliefs that we really have power to question are our own! 🙂
Diana xo
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Will you accept my sensibility this one time as I judge this post to be right on? 🙂
Seriously, Diana, mirroring one’s own beliefs onto other cultures, countries, religions and societies is how wars have started over history.
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(smiling) It’s so true Mark. Thanks for chiming in!
Diana xo
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I love Seth Godin Diana! Before I read the post I noticed my own ugh reaction and then a thought … if I was a cat I would want this!
We are all constrained by our beliefs and how we see the world around us.
Believing that our culture is better than an other is called ethnocentrism. A global survey was taken some time ago and the US leads the way. Sweden was the bottom of the list.
Not sure where Canada or the UK was ….
I used to do a lot of cross cultural training back in the 90’s. I really enjoyed helping people see different perspectives and to be open minded. Every culture has its own way of responding to the world around it.
There is no good or bad, it is only our thinking that makes it so 🙂
Val
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OMW! I bet you were good at facilitating this training Val! I think a good flag for me is whenever I catch myself feeling superior to my fellow (wo)man. Life is a journey of learning, isn’t it?
Diana xo
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I believe this false sense of superiority is how the “enlightened” conquerors have treated indigenous populations for centuries. Turns out some of their practices were healthier, saner and wiser.
The closest our two cats get to food that is close to their tastes is when we give them a little tuna. But, then, I’m told that’s not healthy for the cat. Ah well! It is a rare treat. 😉
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Judy, it’s our indigenous people I was thinking of when I read Seth’s post! Have you ever read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee?
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment Judy and who’s to say tuna isn’t good for your cats! 🙂
Diana xo
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I read – or intended to read – “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” many years ago. As a reporter, I also covered some stories involving a dispute on the St. Regis reservation – Mohawks, and the Oneida Indians. Most of the stories related to casinos on their territories.
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Wow such wise words Diana… and so true too… something not many of us think about when opening our mouths in judgement of others,….
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I know that it is true of me bulldog. I will try to be more aware of it when it rises up within me. 🙂
Diana xo
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Diana’s food (for thought) is for … all of us!
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Clever Ann! Thanks for brightening my day. ❤
Diana xo
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One brightening deserves another, Diana.
Ann xo
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Haha – like a ripple effect – love it!
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