We are such busy, self-important people that we can’t be bothered with some seemingly trivial things – like a cat hit and left to die in a midtown intersection.

Mercedes was hit and left to die at Grant and Swan roads/submitted photo

Such was the fate of a calico feline the afternoon of Aug. 26, says The Hermitage Cat Shelter. At least one car slammed into the cat, while several other vehicles just streamed on by.

Why bother to help a cat? After all, the thing was already shaking and sideways in the middle of the street. It would probably croak soon anyway. May as well make it to our appointments on time.

We have things to do, people to see, toilet paper, toothpaste and Twizzlers to buy.

One woman finally did stop, scooped up the cat and took the feline to the nearest cat shelter she could think of.

Hence the cat, now named Mercedes in honor of the Good Samaritan’s car, is recovering at Tucson’s Hermitage Cat Shelter, 5278 E. 21st St.

A veterinarian examined Mercedes, prescribed painkillers along with various other medications, and told the Hermitage folks Mercedes should be fine.

Getting hit by a car knocked out quite a few of the cat’s teeth and left her with a nasty road rash. She also probably used up one of those nine lives.

Mercedes is currently in The Hermitage’s Isolation Unit and will be up for adoption upon her recovery.

We applaud the woman who stopped – and wonder how many fellow motorists she may have irked by briefly putting on her hazard lights to halt the flow of traffic and save a cat.

We can rationalize leaving a cat to die all the way to Thursday. Tucson has too many stray cats to begin with. They pee on our porch. They make our dog nuts when we’re out walking, pulling on the leash.

Some folks hate cats to begin with, calling them sneaky and evil.

But say it was not a cat that lay dying, but a dog? Not a dog, but a human?

Based on the six murders posted last week on Rynski’s Day of the Dead, coupled with the seven currently sitting in my e-mail inbox, we kind of get this eerie feeling that, for some, life does not mean all that much.

If a human lay dying in the intersection, we thus have to wonder if that same type of rationalization would still kick in. After all, we don’t want to be held up for our important missions, like buying those Twizzlers and toilet paper.

NOTE: This piece was written using sarcasm. Cats are people, too.

[tnipoll]

What do you think?

Would you let a cat die in the intersection?

Would you stop to save any animal? Would you stop to save a person?

Have you hit anything and left it to die?

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