Tunisia after the revolution: Postscript Wild and Gorgeous

"A wise man learns from other men's mistakes, while a fool learns from his own. " "He who hates corrections is stupid." "The problem with the youths of this generation is that they want to eat dinner in the morning." Ubuntu African Proverbs. "Erst kommt das Fressen, dann die Moral." (The scoffing comes first, than the moral.) Bertholt Brecht. My very special Madonna (she likes to give me instructions how to look well after her, nonetheless I am not allowed to touch her) decided one day to leave my house, though remain close by. Being "on heat" made the street more interesting, as most of my male treasures have been spayed and neutered. On several occasions I invited Madonna to come inside again, even though she constantly complained about the tough street life (in spite of me still providing her with food and water) , sleeping outside, she thought about it, took 2 steps indoors had a look, then walked out again, refused again and again, guess too many cats in the house for her taste. Two days ago I finally managed to persuade her to join our big feral family again. When I opened the door and she saw her "teenaged" daughter lying peacefully and relaxed on a rag, it may have induced her to honor us with her presence. While living outside Madonna made a lot of noice, a very unhappy feral. This has changed, she's quiet and happy, "hotel Mama" isn't so bad after all. Only one snag, seems my cute little lady is pregnant now..... I had provided Fleur and her new borns with a comfortable basket, so I thought. She surprised me twice by placing her babies instead underneath the bathroom sink, onto cold tiles. The poor little sweeties were crying. I put them back in the basket, wondering whether the mother was perhaps abandoning her babies? Then I understood her message: My babies, my decision! I placed a padded draw underneath the sink for Fleur and her new borns and "she is happy now, no one disturbs them," so I thought. Well, cats may always yet surprise you. Yesterday morning I checked how the babies are and saw them cuddling together. A little later there was only the white one left. What happened? Tried in vain to find the black baby. Early in the afternoon the remaining baby also disappeared. I was shocked, didn't Fleur like her babies? Was she trying to get rid of them? She looked me straight in the eyes. So I asked her: Where are your babies? No reply. Once more I searched every corner of the house and terrace. Then, thank heavens, to my great relief, I found the tiny ferals cuddling together in the far corner of my wooden animal house on the roof. Mummy had carried them upstairs, one after the other, the 3. "bedroom" for the little family, without a tomcat father, as usual. One good news followed by a depressing one. Last night I first found a cardboard box in front of my house (all too often used here to get rid of unwanted kittens), sure enough, 4 frightened, innocent, very young, beautiful kittens, in my little shelter, mend to be temporarily for street cats, not to be an invitation for shameless folks to abandon their kittens (after all this street is not a safe place and we are most certainly not rich). I fear persons without a conscience and only perhaps remote knowledge of the Quran, wouldn't think twice about throwing kittens out on the street, simply for their convienence, placing them on my door step and would continue to do so even on the last day of my life. The usual excuse for not getting the cat in the house spayed and neutered is that it is "haram" (birth control perhaps not allowed by the religion, but okay to abandon the unwanted babies? ) or too expensive. Let me tell you, if you are a smoker, many women are nowadays, the money spent in a month on afterall harmful cigarettes, is sufficient to cover the costs for getting one female and two male cats spayed and neutered! - Humanity has made so little progress, if any. The famous German writer, Wolfgang Borchert (1921 - 1947), a soldier during the 1. World War, has a lot to tell us, even now, as we are living in a different century. He wrote a. o. the following short story: "When the war was over, the soldier came home. But he had no bread. Then he saw a man who had. He killed him. You mustn't kill, you know, said the judge. Why not, asked the soldier." Our world has experienced so much brutality, destructions, atrocities, killings of innocent lives, leaving countless children and adults to live with their trauma. There is a small chance of peace for the people in Gaza and also in Israel, etc. Two-states is the only solution and if the "big players" are willing, we have a realistic chance to stop the senseless killings. Let us hope and pray for this. Oh Lord, have mercy, provide those in power with wisdom, empathy and respect for human rights.