Meet Honey Bee, a blind cat from Fiji with a beautiful spirit and a
wonderful message of hope. Once upon a time Honey Bee lived at an animal
shelter called Animals Fiji, but today she happily lives with her 2
loving humans and 4 other cats all the way in Seattle. After
first adopting a blind cat, her owners likely didn’t know what to
expect, but turns out Honey Bee is just like any other cat with eyes.
Actually, Honey Bee is arguably WAY more incredible.
First and
foremost, unlike most scaredy cats this brave cat LOVES to go hiking. On
BoredPanda.com her owners write, “When we go hiking, we take her on our
shoulders or with a leash. People say they love dogs because you can
take them hiking, but Honey Bee loves hiking, too!”
“In America in particular, if a young man attempts gentle platonic contact with another young man, he faces a very real risk of homophobic backlash either by that person or by those who witness the contact. This is, in part, because we frame all contact by men as being intentionally sexual until proven otherwise. Couple this with the homophobia that runs rampant in our culture, and you get a recipe for increased touch isolation that damages the lives of the vast majority of men.
And if you think men have always been hands-off with each other, have a look at an amazing collection of historic photos compiled by Brett and Kate McKay for an article they titled: Bosom Buddies: A Photo History of Male Affection. It’s a remarkable look at male camaraderie as expressed though physical touch in photos dating back to the earliest days of photography.”
Platonic touch is crucial to human development and happiness, and this article discusses the damage done to everyone when two men can’t casually touch without fear of backlash, and when the burden of physical affection is solely placed on women.
Men from other parts of the world and different cultural histories often have to be told, literally, “don’t do what you normally would with friends: people will think you’re gay.”
It’s also part of the bullshit that contributes to the sense many men have that being denied a (usually female) sexual partner is a massive attack and hardship: in our society the only relationship that allows adult men human touch is a sexual-romantic one.
That means we’re training our boys to truly believe the only way to get this thing is by having a girlfriend. (And even then, too much cuddling or whatever that’s NOT overtly sexual or seen to be the woman providing sexualized attention is seen as emasculating and unmanly.)
And that very easily becomes “this is what women are FOR.” And even when it doesn’t quite, the need for contact doesn’t go away, and can be psychologically corrosive in the extreme.
And we start teaching this VERY young. Young enough that when today at playgroup I saw a father with his five year old SON acting like he would with a daughter or like a mother would with a son that age, it was actually remarkable (and nice to see) because it so often doesn’t happen: about three or four is usually the cut-off for fathers (or grandfathers) cuddling and kissing sons.
Moms are allowed to do it much longer, but again, sons WANTING it rather than Putting Up With It is viewed as a sign of weakness, babyish, unacceptable.
It’s fucked up, and it costs not only these men, but every woman they cross paths with. Our entire culture is set up to tell them that they HAVE to have access to a woman to be emotionally well, and that woman has to have sex with them, and then they go out and live it and everyone pays.
(Note, of course: this code and behaviour is mostly reinforced by OTHER MEN. Just like almost all the others.)
Franz Kafka, the story goes, encountered a little girl in the park where he went walking daily. She was crying. She had lost her doll and was desolate.
Kafka offered to help her look for the doll and arranged to meet her the next day at the same spot. Unable to find the doll he composed a letter from the doll and read it to her when they met.
“Please do not mourn me, I have gone on a trip to see the world. I will write you of my adventures.” This was the beginning of many letters. When he and the little girl met he read her from these carefully composed letters the imagined adventures of the beloved doll. The little girl was comforted.
When the meetings came to an end Kafka presented her with a doll. She obviously looked different from the original doll. An attached letter explained: “my travels have changed me… “
Many years later, the now grown girl found a letter stuffed into an unnoticed crevice in the cherished replacement doll. In summary it said: “every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.”
For me there are two wise lessons in this story: Grief and loss are ubiquitous even for a young child. And the way toward healing is to look for how love comes back in another form. – May Benatar
nos vídeos relacionados tem uns em que ele é convidado pra uns eventos e tal. inclusive tem esse em que ele relata: "eu tinha feito o filme com os urso né, aí de repente aparece um monte de ursinho dizendo que me conhece e eu: caramba como assim, não entendi"
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