Goodbye to Kitty

[charlie]

A Canadian artist explains death to his young daughter with a sweetly touching remembrance of their cat Clem, in 13 panels of illustrations... with no angels, pearly gates, or reference to an afterlife at all:

http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2005/8/3/82314/17588

If you own a cat, I'll bet s/he gets a hug before you turn in tonight (my Tommy died one lousy Monday morning a few weeks ago. I have others, but I'm still aching to skritch his head and hear him motorboat just one more time).

[enlightenment]

1. Lovely. Honest.

. . . now I need to go do something else because it really hurts to think of the kitties I've lost to death.

My sympathies to you - it sucks to lose our furry friends.

[and-justice-for-all]

2. I love my babies everyday...they are so spoiled...

and my 20lbs Tom is proof.

[Strong Atheist]

3. Very sorry to here about your cat. Well done on the explanation. Much better than:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=196317

[dropkickpa]

4. That's really cool!

A sweet explanation for a little kid. Very factual and no bullshit. I like it a lot.

Dropkid has always been a lot more matter of fact and less sweet. She now wants my friend Jeff to stuff our guinea pig Frodo when he dies (Jeff does taxidermy). She also wants Agaths to be stuffed. And herself. She's on a bit of a stuffing kick right now.

She creeps out some people because she's so matter of fact (really big into biology and lifecycles right now), she explained to a friends kid about how their dog was decomposing and feeding the worms and beetles and was a necessary part of the lifecycle in their backyard. I don't think they appreciated the explanation, they were happier with their "Binkley's in heaven" story. Gotta love my fundie friends!

[charlie]

5. I like your kid

She sounds like a hoot. Her friends may have been horrified, but I'll bet they were enthralled too. There's no time when you're more fascinated by life's grottier details than when you're a youngster ("The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out...").

If only my son could've been as sanguine as your daughter, poor guy. When he came to me with the big questions, I could see his growing fear that even DAD, of all people, couldn't give him the "right" answer. He finally blurted a plaintive "but I don't want to die!" and I had to scoop him up and humor him out of it.

[dropkickpa]

8. She was horrified to find out

Grandpa wasn't rotting. I kid you not. When I explained embalming to her, her response was "Gross!"

She really can be weird. The pic in my siglin is from when she was 4. She isn't fascinated with death at all, it just doesn't scare her.

[charlie]

9. THAT's her?

Bwaaah! She's awesome! Hat tip to you too, Mom. You're really swingin' with the art of ghoulish makeup.

[dropkickpa]

11. Thanks!

She's a hoot, she insistes on being a skeleton cheerleader that year.

[charlie]

6. Thank you to all

for your condolences. I wasn't fishing for sympathy, honest. But your kindness has touched me and is much appreciated.

:hi:

[progressoid]

7. Wish I could Rec this.

Nice. :)

One of our two cats is our alarm clock. As soon as the sun is up, she is up and telling us it's time to go outside a pee under the pine tree. It drives us crazy...but in a good way.

[moggie]

10. Why do you pee under a tree?

:shrug:

[progressoid]

12. Just trying to conserve water.

We don't have one of those low flow toilets yet.

[NMMNG]

13. Awww

I'm in tears right now with one kitten on my chest and the other between my feet. What a sweet, sad story.

[pink-o]

14. Shows that you don't have to lie to children and stuff them with Fairy Tales.

I don't have kids, but I remember very well feeling betrayed when adults tried to snow me because they wanted to "protect" me from harsh truths. In fact, the reason I'm agnostic is because no grownup ever successfully answered the only question that matters:

"If God loves us so much, if He made us in His own image and elevated us above all other species, then why does he allow us to suffer and live in pain?"

Most curious kids aren't gonna buy the stupid stories about Free will or Satan's temptation unless someone browbeats 'em into them. Raising little humans to adapt to the truth sounds like an obvious good idea, and morally sound!