It occurred to me for the first time just yesterday as I stooped to pet a neighborhood cat, on my way home from a hair appointment.
Why do we do that?
What compels us to walk up to strange animals and sometimes babies or even small children and pet them?
I saw a really cute guy on the metro yesterday and I didn’t walk up to him and start playing with his hair saying “Hey little fella, aren’t you cute..yes you are…yes you sure are…”. We don’t walk up to random strangers (when we’re sober) and tell them we want to steal them or ask them if they want to come home with us while cooing and remarking on how soft and shiny they are, or how tiny their toes are.
WHY?
They’re not really that irresistible that we can’t restrain ourselves are they? Honestly some of the cats aren’t even that cute, nor the babies for that matter.
So I’m just wondering… are we completely inappropriate with little defenseless cute things or sadly cold and frigid with each other?
As I pondered I began to feel creepy and inappropriate and walked quickly away from the kitten, shooing it and begging it to go away.
Ok, so some cats and dogs ask for it. They come pitter-pattering up to us on the sidewalk and rub themselves on us and mew and give puppy dog eyes at us that say “please, love me, pet me, tell me how cute I am”. Fine. But, what if there were adult humans that just wandered around the neighborhood or hung out on balconies, waiting for people to stroll by so they could purr at them and ask them to make out, right there in the middle of the sidewalk?
Ok fine, you’re right. There are. After all, it’s not like construction workers are actually constructing anything most of the time.
New question.
Does anybody do it? Does anybody say “Sure! Come here you handsome devil. Look at you, all fat and furry, you cute little thing.”?
I was just wondering…