Reading: Abandoning a Cat

Murakami shares the wartime trauma passed down from his father. Reading this story I'm reminded of a time I tried to save a cat caught in a tree. It was one of those long, skinny trees, suitable for the thoroughfares of an apartment community. Maybe Eucalyptus, with a smooth trunk that branched at considerable height. The cat was resting upon one of its branches, mewing away. Hearing this cat, observing the tree, I was filled by an intrusive desire to climb the tree and attempt rescue. A classic "do now, think later" situation. I donned gloves, put on an extra layer (for protection), and began the ascent. The tree was simple to climb. My arms wrapped easily around it, nothing was particularly thorny or uncomfortable, a bit like scaling a thick rope. I quickly made my way three-fourths up the trunk, stopping a few feet from the cat. At that moment I had a realization, a sudden stroke of insight, that what I was doing in that moment in time was unquestionably stupid, that with the…