Concerned Care, Not Guilt

Photo by:Eric Han https://unsplash.com/@madeyes

Tiger, a pet cat, loved to follow its human companion. They took care of Tiger and lived days full of so many activities. Tiger loved scooting back and forth with the human and doing the best to reciprocate the love received.  

“Tiger! Come here, dear!” the companion called. Tiger willingly answered the call. “Tonight, I hope that we’ll get some down time together.” Tiger imagined dragging the companion’s favorite toy to their corner for their ‘down time.’ 

When the human left for the day, Tiger was tired and napped until it was dark. The human hadn’t returned yet and Tiger worried about them. Remembering that they meant to set up ‘down time’, Tiger felt guilty of neglect, but their human didn’t come home as expected. To not get consumed with worry and guilt, Tiger rethought the guilt. They couldn’t control what the human chose to do in their day, but Tiger cared for the human. Getting tired prevented Tiger’s plan but it turned out to be unnecessary anyway. It wasn’t guilt that Tiger was feeling, for Tiger wasn’t obliged to the plan. Tiger was consumed with concern because of love for the human. It was Tiger’s desire to care that had its mind thinking of what they should do.  

Overall, Tiger could only wait patiently and do its best. Tiger had no reason to believe that concern was anything but the care they held for their love companion.