Crazy

Our black cat, Taj, had a spectacular crazy time the other day. He raced up and down the stairs at breakneck speed, made several circuits around the entire first floor as if he were an Indy car and threw in a few howls for sound effects.

For those of you unfamiliar with pet behavior, these short bouts of literally off the wall (or climbing the wall) romps occur on a daily basis for many cats. This apparent insanity is a totally normal part of cat life.

Animal behavioralists hypothesize that the bursts of high speed action release pent up energy. A cat in the wild would make about forty attempts to catch prey each day. The chemicals in our house cats’ brains still say “go”.

While watching Taj go nuts, I had a revelation. We humans should take up the practice. With all the dismal news; the sad state of our democracy, world politics and the environment, we need to have an escape valve from our lives as concerned citizens.

I can’t be a Buddhist and be detached. Nor can I be a Pollyanna, an eternal optimist or a magical thinker. But dancing to Zydeco music, running around the block, doing jumping jacks or beating on drums for a short while might  induce a bit of temporary euphoria.

I’m leaning toward the drums.

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