Rocco: (approaching calico cat): Nice to see you, Sam.
Sam: Rocco, it’s been a while. How you’ve been, buddy? Getting those whiskers into trouble?
Rocco: Not more than your average cat. Gotta feed the kittens.
Sam: I hear that. Listen, have you heard about the cats in the Middle East?
Rocco: Oh my God, Sam. I can’t handle that right now. I have kittens to feed, man.
Sam: But have you been watching the news? Kittens literally don’t have anything to eat over there. I’m not talking about “starving” kittens who “need” to have Chick-fil-A.
Rocco: Keep your whiskers out of other cats’ milk, Sam. This is isn’t Jeopardy. You don’t get points just for knowing stuff. And even if you know, it sure doesn’t help. You can’t do anything. You’re just a cat, Sam.
Sam: It’s not like the human beings are acting like human beings, Rocco. You have children starving in Aleppo and nobody gives a damn.
Rocco: It’s not that they don’t care. It’s that they are distracted. Or they feel powerless. Or like this isn’t their fight. They just want to let it play out, you know?
Sam: But the kittens. They don’t have a choice. They can’t run away by themselves. They are caught in a conflict not of their choosing.
Rocco: So what? Don’t you know we can’t do anything?
Sam: Can’t we pressure the two Great Powers to do something?
Rocco: Reality check, Sam. You are a cat.
Sam: Listen, crazy things have been happening. Have you seen the voting ballot? So can’t you have a cat reminding folks about how we are all Aleppo?
Rocco: What are you talking about?
Sam: Listen, Rocco. The Great Powers, at least their leaders, are supposedly Christian, right? Can’t they get together and figure this out?
Rocco: First, don’t go there. You know how I feel about religion. Second, they’ve tried, Sam. And you had one great power blaming the other and walking away.
Sam: Can’t they try again? Those kittens in Aleppo, what if they were their kittens? Russian kittens? American kittens?
Rocco: But they’re not.
Sam: But what if they were? And aren’t we all children of God? What’s going to happen to our souls if we don’t speak up for the least, the smallest, the most vulnerable?
Rocco: Nobody cares about your soul, Sam.
Sam: I do. And I care about those kittens. And I’m going to keep talking about them. Because they deserve it. At least cats can speak up.
Rocco: Well, I admire that, and nothing is going to happen.
Sam: You don’t know that. You don’t know that.
Rocco: Sure I do. Nothing is going to get better.
Sam: Do you need a hug, Rocco? Listen, you’re right. The way things are going, nothing is going to get better. But maybe the two Great Powers can try again. They’re not dogs, after all.
Rocco: No, they’re human beings, Sam.
Sam: Let’s hope so.