The Parable of Deadcatpooville

Deadcatpooville

There was once a large barnyard. It was ruled by cats, who thought the best thing for the barnyard was dead mice. If you walked by the ruling cats, you would hear a chorus, “dead mice, dead mice, we need dead mice; that’s how we’ll fix this barnyard.” 

There were lots of problems in the barnyard. In one corner young cats were killing each other because they were bored, maybe they were not being taught how to be clever, how to use their cat skills to make the barnyard a better place. “Dead mice,” said one of the fat cats. “Police and prisons,” said another, "that’s what we need." A few  suggested teaching the young cats how to kill just enough mice and no more. But the loudest cats said, “dead mice, dead mice, that’s what we need, more dead mice.” 

In spite of this doubtful tactic, there was also a lot of potential in the barnyard. In one corner creative young cats were getting together and asking how they could make the barnyard a better place. Sometimes they would make suggestions, but when they did the ruling cats just said, “bring us dead mice, and then we’ll talk.”

One day a cat came from the next barnyard over to make a name for himself. He was a beautiful cat, very big and sleek with a shiny grey coat. The ruling cats liked him, but he had mean eyes.

Mr. Sleek approached a few of the fattest ruling cats and said, “I will bring you 18000 dead mice AND I will do you a favor. I will build a cat poo train through your barnyard. We will scrape up catpoo from all over and bring it through your barnyard. Then no one will be able to smell all these dead mice I will bring you, all they will smell is cat poo. The fat cats thought this was a great idea. 

The creative young cats, said, “Oh no, fatcats, this is a terrible idea, it will be stinky and unhealthy. Let us help you come up with a better plan.” They held meetings, and learned that none of the ordinary cats liked this plan. They agreed that maybe it was a better idea to build cat gardens and teach kittens good cat skills like how to cover their messes or use it as fertilizer. But the fatcats could only think of dead mice.

Mr. Sleek got wind of this and started piling up the dead mice in earnest. Then he threatened to take away the dead mice.  There was a bad smell in the barnyard. More cats started killing each other. They said, noone cares about us, they only care about dead mice and cat poo. They don’t care about the barnyard, or building gardens, or teaching kittens. Why should we care?  

If only the ruling cats had listened, today that barnyard wouldn’t be called Deadcatpooville.

Let those who have ears hear....