Cats fear

Ailurophobia. I scoff, sometimes mock, my poor husband's fear of cats. It's something that runs in his family. Whenever I see a stray cat, out and about, I make sure I point it out just to see the reaction my in-laws have. It's cruel. I know. But if you've ever seen a bunch of adults standing frozen and petrified at the sight of a cute little fluffy kitten, it's priceless. Lately, though I've been wondering if it might be a true illness. I've been noticing my 2 kids grimacing at the sight of cats and wondering if it might be something to be concerned about. I did some research. The section titled, "The True Cost of Living with Cats Fear" is interesting. After reading it several times, I still don't get it. Can't you just not own a cat and avoid cats? Maybe I'm missing something.

I have begun to wonder if our world is just becoming more and more paranoid as a result of our excess of knowledge. We as humans feel a need to label EVERYTHING in order to address it and overcome our so-called psychoses. What really happens is that we get more and more paranoid about having a clinically diagnosable medical condition and start popping pills, which have side effects, which then have to be remedied, too. Why can't we just be happy-go-lucky like cave men and women were (I don't really know if they were happy, but I assume they didn't have half as many medical problems as the current American or they just died before they could notice their conditions were significant) and just brush it off. Now we have to deal with dry mouth, sexual dysfunction and insomnia, on top of our fear of cats.

Several months ago, my husband found an ad in a magazine, which he had carefully saved for me to read. It was a pharmaceutical co. ad for some drug which purports to relieve symptoms of a condition called, Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). Come on! Immediately, I turned to the cover of the magazine to make sure it was really a real magazine and not some trick ad that he had found or made up. Apparently, this is a legit condition and someone has even formed a foundation for its cause. There were a handful of times that I remembered my husband getting up during the night and pacing because he said his legs were restless. I usually just laughed at him and then turned over to go back to sleep. My husband was so excited to find this ad and then proudly present it to me, as if to say, "See, I'm not the only one in the world."

Crazies hate being called crazy.