Black Angel Lily an Obituary

 We have more to learn from animals than animals have to learn from us!                                                                               Kids one day in 2016 asked me to check on a black young cat sitting near my window, shivering, a big bump on her head and an injury on her thigh. They said a dog had bitten her and children hit her with a stick. We took her to the vet and she recovered. Being a gentle little darling none of our other feline big family members had any problems with Lily, as we named her, and she cuddled with many. Lily turned out to be very intelligent and inventive. If she wanted to enter a room ( that was out of bounds to several cats to protect some of the interior), she would jump on our back and wrap herself around our neck. She also had a special way to knock at the door, Lily would bang the key attachment against the door. Later on this was copied by other cats, or they would que up behind her, waiting for us to open the door for our black angel. Some times Lily would briefly walk out and quickly return to her home where everybody loves her. One day it was different, she was no where to be seen. We searched for her everywhere in the neighborhood and called her name, but in vain. Kids finally led me to a house where she was kept. A young man opened the door and denied having Lily. We knew that she would return to us if she can. So she has been kidnapped, locked in somewhere for 11 days meanwhile. We decided to offer a reward for her return. Surprise, surprise, that same man who previously had denied having her, brought Lily back for money, I paid him ransom. Still, over the moon to have our sweet honey back. She had lost weight, her lovely fur had lost its shine and she looked sad. It took her quite some time to recover, I wonder what she went through. She seemed to be less healthy ever since, breathing problems, coughing, seemed to be always hungry, but would eat only small portions, bad skin, flaky, later on recovered through vet and medication. Now, November 2021, stopped eating, would only snif at her food. Blood test showed kidney and lung problems. We bought her special croquettes at a high price, hoping she will get better. But she didn't touch them. We took our little treasure to the vet again, already fearing we might loose her, only 5 1/2 years old. Having Lily sleeping in the arms of my husband or above our heads on the pillow, so wonderful, never no more? Very difficult to accept. Our black angel went over the rainbow, leaving us with a great gap, we are in mourning. She gave us so much love and delight.

PostScript Fighting against Windmills

" Above all, always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice committed against anyone, anywhere in the world. "            Ernesto Che Guevara.                                                                    While still enjoying sunshine during the day, evenings and in particular nights are getting pretty cold. This means a lot of sneezing and coughing, most of all for homeless poor cats and dogs. We domesticated them, made them dependant, and should take responsibility. But it's rewarding, honest love, gratetude and loyalty. In my experience this can't be guaranteed if you choose to help poor people instead. In such a case it is better to expect nothing in return. Theft of copper cables from Tunisia Telecom tripled in 2021. Sounds kind of familiar? Such thefts in Europe occured as well, only with different actors. Good news: Ben Arours National Guards anti criminal unit dismantled network that specializes in falsifying official documents. They discovered computers, printers and CDs containing university and other degrees and diplomas intended for fraudulent missuse and criminal irresponsible actions. I often heard in the past that jobs are frequently given to those who can pay approx. 3000 Dinar for the favour. With the new president obviously willing to clap down on corruption and bribes at long last, those who deserve a better job or remained unemployed in spite of their qualifications hopefully, if times are changing,

 will find offers that match their education and ability. This should further our economy, provide better schools and morals, proof to kids and adults that it is worth it to gain education and training. Anti-aggression training would be a good idea, in particular for those who come from broken families and/ or mainly got "their education" on the street. Lack of self-control, envy and desire to take instant revenge, already for minor things like one wrong word, are a great handicap. I note it everyday in the neighborhood. Kids that only recently stopped wearing nappies hitting or throwing stones at cats and dogs. This is not normal behaviour, but fairly common among the badly or uneducated here, shameful and depressing to watch. It is important not to look away, to ignore, unless one wants an elbow society without empathy. Some taxi drivers are highly educated, polite and helpful, others are kind of strange, like spoiled princes, they don't want to drive where there is a lot of traffic, don't want passengers with heavy bags, prefer pretty girls to elderly folks. By the way, it appears to be in fashion to snatch a taxi away from old persons. The driver usually doesn't care who stopped the taxi in the first place. So if you are getting on a bit and aren't sportive, hard luck. We have several taxi drivers in the neighborhood, while one of them refuses to take a tip from a neighbor, another one thinks he should charge extra. 

Fighting against Windmills

 "What a

man does not understand, he does not possess. It is much easier to recognize error than to find truth, for error lies on the surface, but may be overcome, but truth lies in the depths and to search for it is not given to everyone." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe                                                     Now is the time when many kittens and puppies are born into an all too often cruel world. It is usually not their mothers' fault, while she is happy to feed the little ones her milk, cruel humans steal them, put them in a plastic bag or cardboard box and throw them between the garbage or in front of houses of people who may perhaps be able and willing to protect the helpless innocent babies. I wonder whether these folks would consider putting a few weeks old human baby out on the street, to provide for itself? Yesterday I discovered in different areas two screaming, helpless beautiful babies crawling between garbage. Shameful. Instead of getting cats and dogs (unless you want a pet family) spayed and neutered, as a kind of family planning. Some believe it's Haram, meaning the Quran doesn't allow this. The Islamic preaching states: " A human being is not perfect until he/she protects animals and plants as well." The operation is intended to do just that, prevent overcrowding and unwanted babies suffer and die in misery. Trying to save the babies is heartbreaking, it is not just feeding them expensive baby milk every four hours, it also means having them crying for their mummy.....and all too often suddenly dying in spite of all efforts. It depresses me and it seems to be never ending. I have seen so many hit, injured by disturbed stone throwing kids, killed by vehicles, dogs treated like toys by youngsters without empathy. It appears to be fashionable among them to keep a dog. If they haven't got enough food for them, they take my croquettes (outside for homeless cats), but unfortunately these are likely to cause diarrhea in dogs as they are designed for cats. Good news, I discovered that several folks in the neighborhood also love cats and dogs, try to help them as far as they can and teach their children to do likewise. A small shop owner declared that cats are heaven sent and gave a home to an injured cat. But there is also a poor family that first took one male dog from the street and a little time later a young bitch "so they can play together", not realizing that six months old is not too young to fall pregnant. They "solved that problem" by kicking her out, most probably already pregnant. In addition she has a minor injury on a leg, as she got hit by a taxi one day. I tried to find her, a sand coloured Arabic dog that does not observe traffic as she should. Together with the animal protection organization "Animal Hearts Tunesia" I was going to get the two dogs spayed and neutered, as well as vaccinated, I can not describe my disappointment and sadness on account of this family's cruel action. Whenever they asked me to help them I tried to do so, within my limits, and had given them food for the dogs. It is so important to teach kids at a very young age the right values. Those who love and protect animals and the environment help to create a better society. We can learn from other countries. Take Ruanda today, every last Saturday in the month all go

out and clean streets and gardens, plant trees.  They call it their Environmental Day. Wouldn't it be great, if we would do the same here? Instead we have those wild rubbish dump areas, if you have bad luck it might in front of your house. One man from the neighborhood said that while he takes his household rubbish to a container in one of those rubbish dump areas, others drop their rubbish on his pavement  or even throw it in his garden. Lately some persons started to throw their garbage in front of an uninhabitable empty house. It stinks and attracts cockroaches etc. Two ladies living near by decided to clean the area, but it's a daily job as this illegal rubbish dumping by selfish lazy people never stops. Though rubbish doesn't get collected from every road, containers for household garbage are always available nearby, no need to dump it where it most certainly doesn't belong. We can do better, time to take more interest in environment protection. There is an increasing number of babies taken to hospital because of breathing problems. Air pollution could easily be reduced if vehicle engines aren't run idle, motorbikes aren't tuned to create utmost noise and black stinking clouds. It amazes me men leaving their car or motorbike with the engine running while they quickly do a bit of shopping. As everybody is honest in this country they don't need to worry about a thief regarding this as an invitation.......as stealing is forbidden in Tunisia.