the (again, not my) cat swatted at me today.

i had put her on her leash (you read that right) and placed her under her favourite tree. at least, i think it's her favourite tree. it sure is mine.

any ways, i heard her infamous "attack hiss" (which sounds more like fear than bravery), followed by a hiss i wasn't familiar with. i get up, follow her death stare (she needs a stare of death to make up for her pathetic hiss) and notice a very ugly cat under the deck i was sitting on. and i mean ugly; the thing had four different colours of skin fur on its face. can we say H-I-D-E-O-U-S?! and there was no way i was letting my friend's cat get attacked by a hideous one.

so i swopped down to save her life, only to get hissed at myself. AND swatted in the face.

thankfully, she's declawed (hence the leash), but still. i now have four different colour bruises on my right cheek and look like the stalker cat i was trying to save her from in the first place.

all kidding aside, this got me thinking.

trying to rescue people from (insert any issue here) isn't necessarily the best thing for them (or even what they need.)

i picked up a book at chapters the other day titled, "when helping hurts: how to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself" and i'm excited to dive into it and put this into practice once i finish the last few chapters of "everybody always" by bob goff (very easy, amusing and challenging (in the best way possible) read, by the way.)

hopefully, this book doesn't throw punches.