New kits on the block.

I hate stray cats; I used to love 'em when I was a kid. Our house was full of thirteen, maybe more cats, at one time. There was once a stray cat we named "Wooly Bully," who made my feet his sleeping quarters.

About a month ago, we asked our laundry woman to get us a cat because I saw a rat romping at the backyard; she brought a white nice female feline. But the dog at the backyard, Yabi, barked at her, so she scampered away, climbed the tall fence, into the neighbour's backyard. We didn't see her again.

Now we have two new fellows in the house.

At my age, I am no longer amenable to adjusting my ways to accommodate other people. Twenty years of living independently in a country and culture where "the self" comes first and foremost, and neighbourliness is saying "hello" and "hi" even to strangers in the elevator and shopping malls, has made me civil and not really cozy towards others.

I don't see anything wrong with it and I don't feel offended if others treat me the same way. In offices where I worked in the last twenty years, being frank, forthright and aggressive were considered assets and musts. If you weren't, you'd be swallowed by the rest.

Saying what's in one's mind is the best way to cope with the workplace and in other relationships, business or personal.

But I'm finding it difficult to be the same person I had been here in P.I. Words like "you have to adjust, don't say that it would hurt the other person's feelings," have been hurled at me. Certain individuals have a habit of making others feel guilty for standing their ground and it is simply and utterly ignorant and selfish of them. Quoting bible verses, and pointing accusations for someone's religiousity, is becoming the Devil, instead of being the Right One.

Lately, taking in fellows into the house meant charity, even if it equates to the owner's being uncomfortable, and unhappy.

If this scenario happened in Canada, I needn't even have to worry in the first place; I only take "those in need" temporarily until they can stand on their own two feet. That's real charity.

The home is the one place where people are supposed to be happiest. I pray you see that.