Beloved Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon has written many books on varied subjects and people and has traveled the world as a journalist. But he has long desired to write a book devoted specifically to his love for - and experiences with - the many pets and animals he has encountered in his life.
Simon explains how "Ulysses S. Cat and Other Animals I Have Known" came to be. "(It) finally came to fruition when people began to suggest it to me and I realized ‘yes’, because animals have always been an important part of my life, our family’s lives, our daughter’s lives. I think the idea first began to occur to me years ago, one way or another, when I covered the siege of Sarajevo. My recording engineer, Manoli Wetherell, and I noticed the lengths that people would go to to take care of their pets. Sharing their meager relief supplies, walking their dogs even though sniper fire was obviously a constant and imminent threat. And I think these stories hit home with a lot of people in the United States who wondered what kind of people were living through these experiences. And I think ever since then, I’ve carried that idea with me."
Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have had pets throughout our lives, can marks the years by the animals who were present then. Simon concurs, "Absolutely. I think animals represent milestones in our lives. I mean, we will always think of Leona as the childhood pet of our daughters. I will always think of Penny as (my) first. A German Shepard that came into our family, my mother and father’s lives, even before I did. The first time I ever saw my mother cry, and she had a lot of reasons to cry, including the suicide of her own mother, was when she learned about the death of Penny. They not only help us through life, they help us register emotion. They help us get in touch with our own thoughts – our own feelings, our own concerns."
I asked Simon about the importance having animals present in the lives of children and the role that they play.
"I think it helps children get out of themselves and care for something – care for someone who is often closer to them in size, closer to them in age", says Simon.
His voice then softens as he relates the question to a precious memory, "I write about what I call ‘the sweetest picture in the world’, which is a picture of our oldest daughter, Elise, when she was, I guess, about two years old, standing on her feet – maybe two-and-a-half; just holding her little head against the little orange head of Leona, our cat, in the sunlight. And the two of them just seemed to be communing with each other. And I don’t mind saying, communicating on some internal link that probably left out the rest of us, but was important to both of them."
We then talked about the eventuality that comes with bringing a pet into our lives, knowing one day we will say 'goodbye', and the heartbreak of letting them go. I asked why we repeatedly allow ourselves to do this?
"Well, because the joy is unmatched. The joy, the companionship, the warmth. You know, we cry when we lose them because we loved them when we had them. And I think that’s all part of our hearts growing up and our hearts taking on the strength that they need to get through life", says Simon.
Simon gives rich character and voices to all of the animals included in his book. I had to ask him if, perhaps, Walt Disney had played any part in the anthropomorphism in his writing.
Simon seemed delighted by the question, "Ohhh! I think, you know… I am going to start citing that in every interview I do from now on. I think a very important one because I am of that generation that first grew up seeing a talking, you know, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and Goofy. Yes, I think that’s absolutely true. My gosh!"
