it does seem, to the public eye, that the animal family residents live in blissful uncommon feline harmony. that is almost true because 95% of the time, we do resemble the peachy dynamics on 123 Sesame Street.
as an insider, i can attest that this kind of gaiety is not a given and certainly not attained by sheer luck nor human intervention.
the other 5% of the time in the family is less picturesque. like it or not, it is about making sure everyone knows their rightful place. and our alpha queen does that. Rosie. some of you may be very surprised. she came to us as a regular pokemon but she has very much evolved with time and age.
what hasn't changed is that she is still all maternal to Suede, Bobby, me and now 23. but cross her, and we get a menacing screech and a smack on the head. thankfully for us, she is a forgiving and loving matron and lets us back into her good books very soon after if we sneak up to her with head down and all sheepish-eyed. she will then give us a lick to signify the end of our social ostracism.
most of us are smart enough to know our way around the system and get the most out of it. Rosie loves by organisation so all we have to do is to let her be the boss and then sit back and enjoy the benefits. but there are among us two that are slow on the uptake - Papa and Fruity. they cower in fear of the almight queen and run if she so much as looks at them.
so Rosie has executive power over the animal family hierarchy.
yet corporate success is never built on the back of one person, however large his or her personality. while i am no more than a minion like everyone else around here, i must say my influence in the animal family is no less, though in widely complementary ways.
i am the one that lends a listening ear, mediates conflicts, soothes ruffled feathers and buys everyone a round of drinks on special occasions. so one of us rules by exclusion, the other by inclusion. essentially in a successful group dynamic, you need the two kinds of leadership.
i say this because i know Rosie never reads this blog. sometimes true leadership is never to admit that you are one (wink).
3 comments:
So the family revolves around Tooty! She's in the center. Efur notice how the boss can be out a lot and things go on, but if the admin is out half a day, everything falls apart? Yup, Rosie's in charge but Tooty is central. Poor Big Papa just doesn't know yet.
Love this entry. You're lucky to have Rosie as the Supreme Being, and it's very gracious of her to allow you to be Co-Supreme Being.
I can't imagine living with that many cats, most I've had is two at a time. It must be really interesting to watch all the pack dynamics.
Heh heh I like the diagram.
Don't think my little menagerie is half as well-organised as yours, though. They're all very... kittenish. Doe tries to be boss, but not everyone takes him seriously.
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