When it comes to animals, I cannot — cannot — leave well enough alone.

This is particularly true when it comes to cats.

Cats because, well, they find me. I don’t know how the hell they find me, they just do. I swear I must have some vibrational catdar beam that shoots out and cats within a 20 mile radius pick up the signal, and show up. Maybe I should stop driving around with cat food sitting in my trunk, but I can’t seem to not do it.

There’s a reason TC threatens me pretty much everyday — he has four cats now {after repeated I’ll be GD! You bring one more GD cat and I’ll never speak to you again!}. I’ve pawned some off on Brother, too. Keep in mind, these are outdoor cats mainly. I don’t want to give the impression that our homes are full of cats and have that horrid feline smell.

The other night, as Brother and I were walking dogs, I came upon a mama cat with her babies. Sitting on the porch of a very rough, neglected home.

Brother tried to stop me immediately, saying, DO NOT WALK UP TO THAT DOOR. KEEP MOVING!

But I couldn’t. Those little kitten eyes looked at me and bore a hole right into my heart. I just can’t not to do something with starving cats.

And starving these guys are. I’m amazed the mama is even able to nurse, she’s thin as a rail, her ribs protruding and she cries out this shattering cry that seems to say, please help me, please feed me.

To my shock, I discovered another litter with their mama in the backyard of this house. Heart jump. Again.

What to do, what to do? I feel both helpless and able. The ones in the backyard are in bad shape, too. Conjunctivitis has two of the kitten’s eyes swollen shut. So I immediately called my vet at home {that’s how insane I am — I have my vet’s personal home number in my phone} and he agreed to meet me and pass along antibiotic eye cream for them.

I found out from neighbors that these two cats have been in a repeated cycle of procreation for a few years now. Years of this! How they are still living is beyond me. One neighbor estimated the mama cat on the front porch has had over 11 litters of babies. Unreal.

I’ve had trouble sleeping since finding them. They are constantly on my mind. I keep going over to periodically feed and put out water for them. I have one goal and thought on my mind: find them a home. Find a solution.

Part of me wishes I could just walk away. That these sorts of situations didn’t pull my heart. That I could easily not care. But then, I wouldn’t be me being … me.

And I can’t help but think … of our Just Do The Next Right Thing quote … it puts everything in simple perspective.

Of course the Right Thing is to help, is to feed these little living beings. The Right Thing is to care.

If we all did this, I think we could solve a lot of our big world situations and crises. World Hunger? Done. We just do The Next Right Thing and feed people when we can. Poverty? We do the Next Right Thing and give what we can, helping others to become self sufficient. People addicted to drugs? We do The Next Right Thing and let them know they are loved, providing the care and help they need.

I think this is all part and parcel in becoming The Way. If my actions demonstrate to one person a new way of being, and if I can save one of these sweet babies, I have succeeded.

The Way will win. It has to.