I spend so much time writing about stuff that's going wrong in my life, I am glad I have at the moment got the motivation to write about something that just strikes me as too funny....

My brother's cat Echo, who I am temporarily taking care of - is lying on top of the gerbil cage. Oreo (the little black/white/black one) periodically climbs to the top of his climbing structure and pokes Echo in the stomach through the bars. This causes her to momentarily jump out of her skin, then she settles back down like nothing happened. Neither of them are taking their eyes off each other. Echo looks like she's watching the cat equivalent of "The Food Channel", just thoroughly enjoying herself (when she's not being tormented). Oreo appears to have a newfound sense of invincibility.

It makes me wonder just how differently we could act, even against all instinct and prior experience - if only the conditioned fear could be eliminated. (And, in the case of a human predator - how harmless they could become if their normally hapless prey - had complete protection.)