What is really important? What touches us today – and will not go away tomorrow? It’s the things that have moved us since human existence: happiness, love, family, partnership, time, stress, loneliness, farewell, grief.
BILD columnist Louis Hagen, coming from a German-Jewish family, sought answers to the eternal questions of mankind from poets, thinkers and researchers. And found a few answers that are amazingly simple – and yet can enrich our lives.
★★★
If I want to know if I’m still lovable, I ask my cats. Whatever they say (purring) the answer is definitely yes.
We see our pets a little like humans. And people you love. The dog will be forgiven for everything. If he bites, he just fights back. If he stinks, it’s the weather, the food, his age. If the cat scratches the sofa, it is its natural instinct. lens is different.
Pets are part of us. There are more and more pets in Germany. In almost every second household lives at least one – according to new surveys there are 22 million dogs and cats.
BILD columnist Louis Hagen
Don’t think we can’t talk to them. My cat ladies Minka and Teddy even discuss with me – although their language sounds a little different. There’s the high-pitched meow they use to say, “Play with me!” There’s the soft, almost pitiful meowing that means, “I missed you. Where have you been all day?”. In truth, sometimes I think they want to tell me the same thing with everything: “You: I’m hungry!”.
︎ My colleague Anika says: “My dogs Fox and Mia only get their food when our family has finished dinner. My son Lucas (10) gets up first and goes to play. My husband leans back in his chair and talks about his day. The dogs remain unperturbed under the table. But when I put my cutlery on the plate, they both jump up and run into the kitchen – they know: now there’s food.”
Eating isn’t everything, of course. When I shove my bike into the basement and slam the door, my cat ladies are already three floors up at the front door. When they greet me with a purr, I purr too, so to speak – in a figurative sense: I feel good, relax, calm down.
Amazingly, there is a sense of community that connects people and pets everywhere and at all times. A kind of basic trust that is not one-sided. The animal knows that it is loved and cared for. Mistress and master like to do this because they can give back a piece of love.
︎ Perhaps many readers will now shake their heads uncomprehendingly because they have never owned a pet. I can only tell you from my own experience: It is never too late for that. And what they win cannot be measured in material terms. It’s a piece of love.
*Louis Hagen (75) was a member of the BILD editor-in-chief for 13 years and is now a consultant at the communications agency WMP. His texts are available as a book at koehler-mittler-shop.de.