The old man and the cat: Why Internet can't get enough of its cat grandpa
The photos going viral within a few days speaks volume about us.
The more we hustle in real life, the more we appreciate the little joys of life on the Internet.
When a US pet sanctuary posted a photo of an old man napping with a cat on their Facebook page — just casually — it had no idea how the post would make Internet warm and fuzzy, and people would send them donations to perpetuate that tranquil moment; to shelter more cats and their human grandpas.
As Kristen Roupenian’s short story Cat Person — which went viral last year — had no original cat, this true story of Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary has no actual grandpa.
Bald and betraying his age (as we saw in the photo), Terry Lauerman is a 75-year-old retired Spanish teacher in Wisconsin. Nothing very noticeable about him.
Around six months ago, he turned up at the shelter home with a grooming brush in hand. He wanted to just brush those cats.
According to reports, soon he became very comfortable with the residents and both Terry and the cats started falling asleep comfortably in each others’ company. From then, Terry started visiting the rescue home every day.
Isn't that strange? Who does that, even if you're retired?
There are many scientific studies to tell you that how we can fall asleep easily around a loving partner. The same happened here and the pet sanctuary could not be happier as those cats are not regular pets we may have in our homes. Those are rescue cats with special needs. Cats which have been abused, neglected, left by owners after some physical and psychological disabilities were detected, are rescued by the shelter home and allowed to have a cage-free life there.
They need more sleep to recover and what can be better than a cat grandpa who has all his time to give a belly rub and then just doze off?
If the cats have found a safe lap, the photos going viral within a few days speaks volumes about us.
Yes, of course we love cat and puppy videos on the Internet, without knowing how the pets have been trained to perform those tricks to entertain us.
But these photos have no such tricks. Terry Lauerman, who is not on social media, expressed his happiness that his accidental naps helped the shelter home to raise a huge amount of funds.
Accidental. That’s what sums up the photos.
They are not posed for. No tricks here. Just an old man and a few cats sleeping, unaware of the fact that they are being watched, photographed. There’s another photo which shows only the grandpa taking a nap and a cat sitting and watching him sleep — in love and trust.
In our daily dose of aimless scrolling up and down on our social media accounts, we come across a thousand and one reasons to feel upset — to feel little about our achievements, to feel dejected about the gloss our lives may not have.
And you are not alone, if you feel so.
That such a simple photo can go viral proves how much we long for the simple pleasures of life — we want to see uninhibited people soaking in the joys of life — be it our dancing uncle or cat grandpa — because we can’t. Probably.