Freckle Cheeks

This cute little cat name Oscar was featured on the cover on the Chinese Mypaper recently. Why you might ask? This cat is no “Lassie”, but just the exact opposite. You see if Oscar hangs with you, that means death sentence is upon you.

Oscar was a adopted by a nursing home in Rhode Island, USA. He walks the floor like the doctors will curl up with the patient during their final hours. According to the staff of the nursing home, Oscar is welcomed by the family members of the patient because it allows them the opportunity to say their last goodbye to their loved one.

Taking into consideration that this is a nursing home, most of the patients there are of old ages and therefore having a cat to be the messenger of Death seems to be acceptable because some of them have accepted that fact there their time is up soon. By having a cat to be the messenger of death, death is then associated with grace and tranquil because that is how people perceive cats.

What gets me thinking is that if Oscar is not residing in a nursing home but instead, it is roaming a hospital where sick people are ranging from babies, childrens, young adults etc, will he still be welcomed by the family members of the patients? Would it still be ok for the parents to see this cute cat curl up to your child in a cuddly way but it means that your child will die in a matter of hours? Would the patient come to terms with the fact that he or she is going to die, and see it as a last opportunity to do something meaningful with the last few hours of his or her life? Maybe, maybe not.

Appearance and packaging is very important and is dominating our perception of things and lives. ‘Death’ packaged in the form of cute, lovable, adorable-enough-to-be-your-pet package, is more readily accepted than having the Grimm Reaper coming to visit you, telling you that you are going to die.

The same message can be delivered in two extremes, one instill grace, the other instill fear. Therefore, when you want to put across a message, beware of the method of delivery, as it can achieve very different results.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 28th, 2007 at 7:16 pm and is filed under From around the world. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.