We become thieves by...Enabling..

When we first saw him he was but a momentary movement among the trees.. As he became more familiar with us he made his presence more known.. We all admired his beauty, his grace of movement, his resourcefulness, his utter disregard for the dogs.. A feline Chuck Norris if you will.. And the dogs knew it.. They raised hell with him but at a safe distance.. He totally ignored them..

The kids were quite taken with him, and him with them.. It wasn’t long until they wanted to feed him.. Their Grampa said no, to enjoy him for what he was.. They didn’t understand soooo, being kids, they went behind Grampa’s back.. and fed him..

It didn’t take long to realize that relying on the kids was easier than trying to catch a bleeping bird or ferret out a rodent so, being the smart cat that he was he became lazy and the back porch became his lair of choice.. Hunting was work, yowling was easy, and it usually brought results. One or more of the kid would bring him something.

Grampa said not a word.. It was much too late. The first tidbit from a child made that truth apparent in short order.. It took but a few weeks until they were all fed up with the demands of their ‘pet’.. When the first child complained Grampa said nothing.. When the second child added his voice Grampa still said nothing.. But when the little girl asked her Grampa just what made the cat yowl all the time he called them all together.

“You kids disobeyed me and became thieves…” He held up his hand as they all began to protest… “Think about it. When you first met him he didn’t rely on you for anything, and you never heard him make much of any kind of sound other than the purr you all like. You saw him as he was, and admired him for it.. He saw you as companionship and loved it, expecting nothing else.. But, when you began to feed him you robbed him of his independence, his self reliance… he became lazy and demanding.. He no longer wanted you for companionship but only as a source of something to eat.. You changed him.. In an adult world they would say you became an enabler, allowing him to become dependent upon you where before, he needed no one..

Grampa knew they were having a hard time understanding, and it had little to do with being a child. It had to do with human nature. Many of us have a hard time separating making ourselves feel good and robbing someone of the desire to be self reliant.. Seeing a need and filling it is much different than being generous just because we can. One can be beneficial and the other can be detrimental. Enabling has become a national disgrace..