Meryl Streep, my favorite star, reportedly criticized at a UN meeting the other day that today, in Afghanistan, a female cat has more freedom than a woman. A cat can sit on the porch in front of his house and feel the sun on his face, and he can chase a squirrel in the park. Squirrels also have more rights than Afghan women because the Taliban ban women from public parks. Indeed, cats and squirrels have more freedom here in America than the women in Afghanistan. But the scene that Streep described in America sometimes may concerns a game of life and death. 

Yesterday morning, I was sitting on the porch of my backyard, enjoying sunlight as usual, I heard tree branches shaking. Suddenly, I saw a dark squirrel running scared on the fence. (Squirrels usually walk, jump, halt, look around, then resume walking.) Seconds later, I saw that "evil" black cat sauntered along the fence in the same direction. Then I realized why that squirrel run like hell. The black cat found me and stopped, and I waved my finger toward it. It might know what I meant and jumped down the fence onto the backyard next door. 

From the tag on its neck, that black "predator" is a domesticated pet, not a feral cat. But it is often seen in our neighborhood, so the nearby area must have been its domain. It has limited freedom because people like the meddlesome me would stop it from (unnecessary) killing. The squirrels enjoy limited freedom here also because they must be aware of other unfriendly animal like pussycats.