Hope is a thing with fur
An outtake from my conversation with Catcade co-founder Christopher Gutierrez
Welcome to Human Pursuits, the column that features need-to-know names and stories in media and other creative spaces. Today, some thoughts on hope, and an outtake from my conversation with Catcade co-founder and emo legend Christopher Gutierrez.
I do not believe that hope is a thing with feathers.
Maybe it was at some point, when Emily Dickinson was still alive and writing poems in Massachusetts, clothed in opaque white cotton. When the world, while scary, was simpler.
I’m not sure.
What I am sure of is that, lately, I have come to see hope as a thing with fur.
It exists, certainly. But it hides in the shadows. It is not a dot to be traced across the sky, but two glowing eyes, tracking us as we maneuver down the rocky, uneven path.
For all we know, it could be right in front of us. If only we knew where to look.
Speaking with Christopher Gutierrez recently, I had the prickly sensation of staring hope in the face.
He and his team at the Catcade have helped a lot of cats (more than 3,000) and, by extension, a lot of people. And yet they have done so knowing that, for every battle they win, there are signs they’re losing the war.
“We exist to provide a little bit of help. We can’t save them all. We can’t save even the majority of them. But what we can do is make a small bit of difference in the handful of cats that we can save.” he said.
I found this inspiring. But, out of context, some people did not.
One person told me she was excited to read the ‘sletter, but saw that quote, which I shared online, and thought she didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to dive in.
Another responded to the same post with a sad-face emoji.
And you know what? I get it.
Reading an interview is not the same as conducting it. My goal as a writer is to bridge that gap. Maybe I wasn’t successful this time around. Or maybe different people take different things from Human Pursuits. Both can be true.
To me, though, Chris’ perspective felt bigger than one non-profit cat rescue.
We have so many reasons not to help each other. And yet our better angels do it anyway. They wake up and accept that, in order to do good sometimes, they might have to feel bad pretty often.
We exist to provide a little bit of help. To me, that is Human Pursuits.
For a while, I’ve considered sharing parts of conversations that don’t make my final edits. My conversation with Chris feels like a good place to start.
This previously edited and condensed part of our interview touches on the idea that challenges can enrich your life.
Christopher Gutierrez: Back when I was a hairstylist, I had a client who told me “Everybody, if we’re fortunate enough to live long, has the ability to live three completely different lives.” She sat in my chair, and she was almost 70 years old. In her 60s, her husband had divorced her. He was this super high-powered lawyer, and he left her with nothing. Nothing. She didn’t know what to do with herself. Her whole life she had only been a mom and a wife. But she ended up becoming a very successful commercial real estate developer.
And she told me, “It’s never too late to restart your life. We have enough time to have three different lives.” I thought, huh, that’s interesting. Growing up, I had people who told me “You can do anything! You can be anything you want! You’re so smart and so talented!” We call that toxic positivity now. But as a kid, you believe it, and in a weird way it kind of fucks with you. Like, if I can do anything I don’t want to pick just one thing. I want to do it all. You could have 10 options in front of you – pro tennis player, doctor, whatever – but when you pick one because you have to focus on one, you automatically close the door on the other nine. The other nine evaporate.
You can’t help but think, in the back of your mind, what if it’s better on the other side? What if I’m a mildly successful pro tennis player when I could have been a really successful doctor?
For me, I’m fortunate enough to have gotten the chance and opportunity to try a bunch of different things in life, and I think it’s made things richer for me. I get to see so many different perspectives and meet so many different people in so many different countries, people who normally wouldn’t talk to me… You go into the world and you realize you have certain commonalities whether it’s music, or cats, or writing. You get to meet these people and bounce ideas off each other and learn.
There’s that old cliché that variety is the spice of life. I don’t know if that’s true. But it’s definitely what brings out life’s colour.
Christopher Gutierrez is the co-founder of the Catcade. He lives in Chicago. You can read our full interview HERE.