I can’t find the quotation in the Bible or in Shakespeare. I don’t think Mark Twain or Abraham Lincoln said it, either. Some people attribute it to Leonardo da Vinci.
“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.”
Whoever said it, here’s what it means: Perception is reality.
This is especially true when you are a small Southern town in which your police department is learning that lesson -- the hard way.
It’s tough. There you are, a cop in Wetumpka, Alabama. A couple of weeks ago you were lauded as a hero, just because you wear a uniform and a badge. You were on the right side of uber-conservative Alabama politics, and you probably couldn’t have paid for a cup of coffee at a local diner if you had wanted to.
But then came those darned cats and the gray-haired desperadoes who dared to feed them.
Feral cats were a problem in that fair city, as they are in other cities, too. They spread disease and are generally a nuisance.
I know something about cats (we have six). After a few years of hanging out around the front porch, they became mighty independent. Sure, they come around for a bowl of Meow Mix morning and night, but they want you to understand that they need you like they need a rhyming dictionary.
Cats are like that.
The problem with the Wetumpka cats is real. The problem of little old ladies feeding the cats is real, too. And now, so is the perception …
The perception of reality is something that is created and pitched to all of us, every day.
My son and I both worked for a public relations firm, although at different times. The man who ran the shop certainly got it. “James,” he told my son, “it doesn’t matter so much whether you’re doing a good job or a bad job for a client. What matters is how the client perceives what you’re doing. If he thinks you’re doing a bad job, then you may as well be. So always do a good job -- and make sure the client knows it.”
Of course, the irony is that PR firms everywhere earn their bread and cheese by bending the perception of reality to their clients’ point of view.
But the biggest reality in Wetumpka is what happened when a group of absolutely tone-deaf lawmen arrested these ladies for feeding feral cats. Then a judge convicted them. That’s the reality.
The perception is that a bunch of idiot cops arrested a couple of old women for saving hungry cats from starvation. And if that’s not what really happened, it may as well be.
The perception of those who’ve heard of this dastardly crime is that Wetumpka -- and, indeed, most of Alabama -- is full of whack jobs. I assure you that people north of the Mason-Dixon Line are rolling their eyes and thinking, “Typical rednecks.”
There was another way to handle it. Sure, a city has to keep feral cats from taking over its parks. But what a different story it could have been if the police chief had founded “Feed the Felines” or “Tame the Tigers” or cooked up a way for the old ladies to trap and “re-home” the cats. Or located a cat-loving shelter that would’ve taken them in.
The city could have staged a “grip and grin” photo-op of the chief and the mayor handing a check to the little old ladies while officers holding purring kitties looked on.
The reality would have been that the purring cats were stand-ins for the feral felines, and that the shelter might have ended up having to euthanize the cats.
But that’s not the lesson here. This is the lesson: You are always subject to the perception that is crafted to spin a story. If it’s your story, you’d better start spinning before the other guy does. Most of all, however, be aware that all stories are spun -- some to the left, some to the right.
And that’s no cat tale.
Frances Coleman is a former editorial page editor of the Mobile Press-Register. Email her at fcoleman1953@gmail.com and “like” her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/prfrances.
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Like it or not, perception has trumped reality in Wetumpka, Alabama - AL.com
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