The grief you cry out from
draws you toward union.
Your pure sadness
that wants help
is the secret cup.
Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.
There are love dogs
no one knows the names of.
Give your life
to be one of them.
— Rumi
Even though I’m an Egyptologist, I’ve always been more of a dog person than a cat person. I belong to the cult of Anubis–not yet Bastet. But in every direction I look on campus, I see cats–by the hundreds. I guess it was inevitable that after a year of being surrounded by cats–and their kittens–I’m finally getting in touch with my inner cat love. I never thought I had it in me.
For the cats of Beirut–the American University of Beirut is a feline paradise. Cats here receive free health-care, get fed well-balanced regular meals, and are adored by students and faculty alike–and those who don’t adore them are prevented by AUB’s Cat Policy from causing them any harm. AUB’s Cat Program, as laid out in AUB’s Official Cat Policy, is dedicated to feeding, spaying, and neutering the healthy population of cats on campus.
In the words of the AUB Bulletin: As kindness is an integral part of education, AUB insists on upholding a humane policy toward animals. In its effort to demonstrate respect for life, and given that cats are sentient beings, AUB’s cat program is geared toward control of the cat population on campus.
The moment I really got in touch with my inner cat love–was when the tiny kitten below crawled on to my lap last week–when I sat down on the main gate stairs on my way out to go meet friends. Two minutes later, having adopted my lap as its new home, the kitten curled up into a ball, closed its eyes, and fell asleep. Though I was late to meet my friends, I could have stayed sitting there with that precious furball all snuggled up in my lap for hours–in my unexpected initiation into the cult of Bastet. It wasn’t until some fat cats came around the corner that the kitten stirred–and minor league turf wars began over their territory and food. Though I was tempted to take the kitten home–as so many of my colleagues have done with kittens from campus before–I knew that if I adopted just that one kitty, I’d soon have hundreds roaming my house. I would go quickly from the crazy chihuahua lady–to the crazy cat lady.
Emily O'Dell with an AUB kitten...
So here at AUB–whether we like or not–we’ve all got cats on the brain. How would we not? They’re everywhere we look–we trip over them on the way to class, find them on our doorstep when we come home, and shoo them from sitting at our feet while we eat lunch under the palms. They even influence our creativity and research. While some like to point out the reasons why AUB cats are more awesome than the rest of us, others turn the so-called peaceful co-existence of AUB’s cats and pigeons into a political lesson for Lebanon–or use them to practice their photographic skills. With a president who is an Egyptologist, it seems especially fitting that the cult of Bastet is thriving so widely on campus–and now, perhaps, I can count myself a member.
In the hand of Love I am like a cat in a sack;
Sometimes Love hoists me into the air,
Sometimes Love flings me into the air,
Love swings me round and round His head;
I have no peace, in this world or any other.
The lovers of God have fallen in a furious river;
They have surrendered themselves to Love’s commands.
Like mill wheels they turn, day and night, day and night,
Constantly turning and turning, and crying out.
–Rumi
