Bono Memories

7/30/2019 Bono Memories

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Luciane Patrcia Yano


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About the Authors:

Cat

and

Brazilian Psychologist. M.A. Ph.D. inHumanities and Social Sciences by the

Nagoya City University Japan.


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This is a story about us, the humans, toldfrom Bonos unique perspective. It is a storyfilled with warmth, candor, and anendearing sense of humor.

Bono, with Ms. Yanos help, clearlyexplains complex facets of human emotionand behavior with charmingsimplicity. Although most appropriate foradolescents, this delightful account of Bonosexperiences can be enjoyed by humans of any age and can be read to your favoritefeline as well.

Bono's message to us is that humansand their feline friends have a great deal toteach each other, and by doing so we can alllearn to be better creatures. Perhaps yourown cat will agree.

Louise HaynesNagoya City University - Japan


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Y21b Yano, Luciane Patrcia.Bono memories /Luciane Patrcia Yano. Rio

Branco, AC: Grfica Snia, 2010.35p.

Bibliografia.

ISBN 978-85-911952-0-6

1. Psicologia Memories Cat Japan - Adolescence. I. Ttulo.

CDD 153.10952


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For all those who like animals...


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My name is Bono. Just Bono. My aunt gave me

this name because she has been a fan of an Irish band called U2 since she was 14. Bono is the name

of the vocalist of this band. In fact, until 2006 my

aunt called me Bono Vox, but she discovered that

her idol hasnt used this name for a long time,except in Brazil, where the people still believe that

the rock band star is called Bono Vox. Well, I

dont care about my name. But, honestly, I am

cuter than the human and famous Bono. This year

I will turn 10 years old. Yes, its a long time for a

cat that just lives for about 15 years. I was born in

a city called Belm in the north of Brazil. I am an


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Amaznida, which in Portuguese means someone

who comes from the Amazon Rain Forest.My aunt bought me at the end of November,

1998. In fact, she just chose me because her father

paid for me and gave me as a gift to Beta, my

aunts sister, who here I will call mother.

My mother was a 15-year-old girl and my aunt

was worried about her because she had lived in

Japan for a long time and she wasnt doing well in

school in Brazil, and she was sad, confused and

unmotivated about life, like many humans when they experience a stage of human life called

adolescence.

When my aunt chose me, I was inside an iron

box with my 4 brothers in the pet shop of a

veterinarian. I dont know how to explain that

moment exactly, but the first time that I looked at

my aunt, I felt that my life was beginning to

change.


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I am a typical Siamese cat with blue eyes, dark

brown ears, feet, and curved tail, not so fat and not too thin. Ok, I will confess: I am

a little overweight. The Siamese cat

is famous for talking with the humans. We

Siamese came from Thailand, the old kingdom of

Siam, and many legends about our origin do exist.

But I prefer this one:

Once upon a time, in the old kingdom of Siam,

a beautiful little princess was isolated on an island

by her father because he was a very jealous man.But the gods did not approve of what her father

had done, so they chose a fisherman to marry her.

But the princess and the fisherman didnt know

about the existence of each other. So, the gods

decided to send a cat, a pale cat, to meet them. The

cat swam to the fisherman and told him about the

existence of the princess on the island. As a reward,


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the gods touched the ears, the feet, the tail and the

nose of the cat giving a black color on these points .So, this legend explains why the Siamese cats

love to talk with the humans. For a Siamese cat,

to talk is like a mission. I like this legend, but I

cannot swim. In fact, I have hated baths since I

was born. Anyway, before my aunt chose me, she

didnt know about this story. She just chose a cat

to give to her sister and I started my new life with

this family.

After we left the pet shop, I went to my new home. My aunts father stopped the car in front of

a building and called to my mother, Beta, by cell

phone. My aunt lied to my mother saying,Come

down because I need your help here with some

stuff. My mother came down looking a little

bored and when my aunt showed me to her, she

gave a big smile that I will never forget.


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Since the first day that I went to my new

family, I have felt at home. My new family was living in an apartment located in a middle-class

neighborhood of the city. My aunt

was divorced and she took care of her

sister, her daughter and a cousin who had come

from another area of the state to study in the

capital. My aunts mother was living in another

city in the north of Brazil called Manaus, and she

didnt have time to take care of my mother, Beta,

because she was starting a new job there. So, I went to live in a family of 4 women and soon I

become the center of attention of the house. For

the first time, I showed my new family how well

mannered I was. I never peed outside my litter box,

taking care to make a good first impression, and it

worked.


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I am a very lucky cat because I was found by a

who loves animals. Cats are often

misunderstood. Many people say that we are

selfish and cold. But this is not true.

In fact, we cats are often compared

to dogs. But dogs and cats are different. And after

being in Japan, I realize that differences exist even

among humans. Here in Japan, my aunt calls these differences . But some humans

dont understand these differences, and they

compare the Japanese people to their own culture,

and often they call the Japanese people selfish and

cold. So, I realized that Japanese people are also

often misunderstood, like the cats.

At the first moment when I went to my new

home, I made a behavioral profile for each member

:Dont trust a person who mistreats animals, children or the elderly .


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of my new family. My mother was a teenage girl

who fell in love for the first time with a Brazilian boy. A teenager is what they call a human who is

12 to 18 years old because at this age the human

goes into a stage of their lives called

Adolescence maybe is the most difficult stage of a

humans life because in adolescence some

substances, called hormones, become very unstable

and as a result, they ch ange the human adolecents

behavior so fast. The teenagers sometimes become

angry, happy, anxious and passionate, and sometimes these mood variations happen at the

same time. So, my mother was a teenager but not a

typical teenager. Yes, sometimes she was angry,

happy, anxious and passionate and a little sad, but

she had another problem to deal with. Her father

was living in a city far from Belm and she almost

never saw him. Also, she had lived in Japan since

she was 6 years old until she went back to Brazil


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when she was 13 years old. When she came to

Brazil, she felt a little bit different from other Brazilian teenagers. I realized that the cultural

differences and adolescence were affecting my

mother. So, I soon become her love cat and

confidant, sleeping with her every night.

My mothers cousin was also a teenager at 12

years old. Inside that home, she was the most

difficult human to understand because she was

very shy and she almost never talked at home. But

I remember she laughed a lot. Yes, she really loved to laugh. She was a very cute girl and she was

studying at the same school where my mother Beta

was.

My aunt was a 26-year-old woman. She was a

junior at the college and she was majoring in

Psychology. I didnt understand what exactly a

psychologist is, but she wanted to be someone who

helps others by listening to what the people want


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to say. So this fact made me feel more comfortable

talking with her when I needed something, and soon she became my psychologist. My aunt was

working, studying at the college, and taking care

of my mother, Beta, my cousin and her daughter,

and this situation sometimes made her anxious and

angry. The human calls a person who lives like my

aunts had lived a stressed person. A

person is someone who is taking care of more

things than she or he really can do. For example, I

am a cat and we cats have some daily affairs. My daily affairs include having to eat, to sleep, to talk,

to play, and when some of these daily affairs dont

happen in a good way, or when I have more things

to do than I can handle, I become a stressed cat

and I feel anxious and angry sometimes.

My aunts daughter was a 6 -year-old girl. She

had too much energy and she looked very happy. I

often fled from her because kids like to pull the tail


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of cats and dogs. My aunts daughter never pulled

my tail, but I was always careful about that. My aunt divorced her daughters father 1 year before I

met this family, and her father came to the house

every weekend to take her out for a visit. At home,

often I heard my mother, my aunt and the cousin

calling her an person. An optimist is

someone, especially humans, who looks more on the

good side of events. For example, an optimistic cat

is a cat who thinks that its better to meet a family

like this than to live on the streets.Well, a home with two teenagers, a kid, and a

stressed woman was not exactly what I was

expecting, but in fact, I found my role at my new

home: to make the members of the family feel

happier. And, I also realized that I had become an

optimistic cat.

:If you want to be loved, buy a dog. If you want to learn to love,

bu a cat.


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When I went to my new family, I was a thin

cat and not as cute as I am now. So I started my

diet to grow up as soon as possible, and as I had

imagined, I become a cute and fluffy

cat in six months.

We had been living on the third

floor of a building called San Marco. Sometimes, I

went to the window to look outside, but my uncle

become worried about me. If I had fallen out the window, maybe I would be not here now to tell my

story.

I remember a beautiful and charming girl called

Su who was living in the apartment next door.

Sometimes she came to our apartment to talk with

my mother, and they laughed a lot, telling stories

about boys and parties. Sometimes, Su took care of

me, because my family went to another city for the


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weekend. One day, Su ran to our apartment to tell

my aunt that I was walking outside the window.So, Su saved my life. She continues living in Belm

and I miss her so much.

My routine with my family included spending

almost all my time at home sleeping, playing,

eating, hearing and talking, especially

with my aunt. I really like to talk

with my aunt and some people look astonished

because theyve never seen a cat answering or

talking with a human before.In 1999, my aunt and my mother received a

message that made them very sad. My grandmother

had become sick. That was when I heard for the

first time the name of a disease that often happens

in humans: . Cancer is a disease that makes

a person and her/his family sad, anxious and

sometimes angry, like what happens in the

adolescence, but with more intensity.


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My grandmother moved into our apartment to

receive medical treatment in Belm. So, the family became bigger and this made me a little anxious,

too, especially because I didnt know how my

grandmother would react to my presence at home.

Some humans dont like cats and I knew it.

Faced with the task of winning

the affection of my grandma, I

decided to create a way to approach her by

becoming as invisible as possible at first and

gradually showing to her my presence at home, and so I did. More than I had expected, my grandma

showed a deep affection for me, and sometimes I

went to her bed to sleep beside her. I realized that

I made my grandma happier and this made me feel

secure.

Thinking that my situation at home was

peaceful, I heard other news. Next, my mother

Betas grandparents were coming from a place


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called Japan to stay with us for a while. My

mothers grandpa is famous for his harsh temperament, and what is worse and much scarier

is that I heard that he definitely did not like cats.

On other hand, I had heard good things about my

great-grandma. At home, everybody said good

things about her. But I was so afraid about my

great- grandpa s temperament and I thought that

maybe the time had come to leave that apartment.

This fact made me anxious. But I decided to

try and use with my mother grandpa the same approach that I had used with my grandma. And

so I did it again. I become as invisible as possible

at first and gradually showed to my great-grandpa

my presence at home and it worked better than I

had thought.

One day my great-grandpa was astonished to

see me and my aunt because she was talking to me

and he said, This cat is so funny. He doesnt look


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like a cat. I think it was God Who sent this cat to

this family. And on another occasion my aunt, my mother Beta and I were looking at my grandma

lying in bed,and she looked at us and said, I

think this cat was sent by God for you. Before I

met Bono I thought that a cat could not be so

smart and affec tionate with humans.Then, my

aunt looked at my grandma and said to her: I

think that is because you had a hard life and you

never had the chance to take care of a pet and you

based your opinion about pets on the stereotypes that you had heard. are fixed ideas

about a person or a thing, but which are often not

true.

My grandma and my great-grandpa had a way

of seeing things from a religious point of view and

my aunt by from a scientific point of view.

Anyway, after these two situations, I realized

that through their experiences, humans are able to


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change their way of thinking. My grandma

changed her vision about cats, my great-grandpa changed his vision about cats, and even I changed

my vision about my great-grandpa as well. After

this experience I learned, like the humans, how

important it is to become a better person or

.

My life in the apartment with that family

continued. My great-grandparents went back to

Japan and, unfortunately, my grandma s disease

worsened and she left our family in September,2000.

After my grandma passed away, the house

became sad for a while. This sadness is called .

Grief is a feeling of sadness, especially after

somebody dies. Humans need to experience the

grief, and then they become better again. But even

after a long time, humans never forget their loved

ones, and this includes pets, too. I realized that the


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time that I had spent with this family makes me a

little human,because I was missing my grandma. And for a while, I often looked for her in her room.

But soon, many changes in the family began to

happen.

My mother s cousin, the shy girl, went back to

live with her parents. My aunt married a man that

had been her friend since high school, and he came

to live with us. In addition, my aunt bought a

piano. I like music, and I like to hear my aunt

playing the piano even when she doesnt play very

well. I stayed below the piano, relaxing and

listening to the sound of the music.

: to eat, to sleep, to talk and to eat anman (a Japanese sweet)

: to take baths, water (except to drink),Saturdays (the day when I take a bath)


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In the year of 2001, my mother decided to go to

Japan to work. This news brought me a sense of anxiety. If my mother went to Japan, who would

take care of me? I was too attached to my mother

and I could not imagine a life without her. So, my

mother went to Japan to work as expected. I think

that was a hard experience for her, too, because she

had to leave her Brazilian boyfriend,

and in particular, she had to leave me,

her lovely cat.

After my mother went to Japan, I become very sad for a while. But, my survival instincts made

me draw closer to my aunt and her daughter, and I

become a healthy and happy cat again. But, at the

end of 2002, new changes were coming, which

made me anxious again: My aunt, decided to go to

Japan after her graduation the next year to study

there.


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My simple life in that apartment, with that

family changed so much, and I was not prepared to face those difficulties. I was afraid of becoming a

street cat, lonely and starving, and I was

definitely not prepared to live on the streets.

Sometimes, when my aunt was not at home, I

went to the window to look down at the cats

outside. They looked as free as my favorite song

says*, and at times I felt a little envious of their

freedom. But, I am an apartment cat

and, I dont know how to survive without my familys care.

I was becoming more and more anxious about

that situation. During that time I tried to be as

* My favorite says...Ns gatos j nascemos pobres.Porm, j

nascemos livres (We cats were born poor, but we are free

since we were born...) Chico Buarque Histria de uma gata


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visible as possible, running through the

apartment, making noises, trying to draw everyones attention to me. But nobody, even my

aunt paid any attention to me. My aunt took me

to a veterinarian, and he gave me some painful

injections. I knew that street cats have too many

diseases because one day I heard my aunt say they

have too short a life. So, I thought that those

injections were a way that my aunt found to keep

me strong and healthy and prevent the diseases.

My uncle was leaving for Japan first, and when he had finished packing his things I thought,

H ere comes the time to say goodbye to my

comfortable life. Now I ll have to try to survive as

a street cat. Then, my aunt brought a f unny kind

of plastic cage and put me inside of it. And then

they put me in the car. I was so afraid because I

did not understand what was happening. When

the car stopped, my aunt and my uncle got out.


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They took me from the car and my aunt opened my

cage and, looking deeply inside my eyes, she said, Look Bono, you will go to Japan to meet your

mother. I will give you this medicine and you will

sleep. Dont be afraid. Everything is going to be

alright. Your uncle will take care of you during the

flight. Be a good boy Ok?!

What? I even didnt know anything about

Japan. What is Japan? Where is Japan? What

was she talking about? And she put a bitter

medicine inside my mouth and then, I fainted. After 30 hours inside a noisy

airplane, twenty days of quarantine in the airport,

a horrible cold that I never had experienced before

I finally found what is and where is Japan: A very

small apartment so far away from Belm.

When my mother came to take me from the

animal quarantine section of the airport, I was

very and I showed to her that I was really,


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really angry by making some angry noises and

showing her my teeth. I know angry isnt a good feeling, but I was really feeling angry. The trip

was terrible, and many bad ideas were hurting me.

My mother understood my situation, and she gave

me a hug and a kiss saying in a sweet voice,Its

ok now. We are going home.

After my mother hugged me, I felt really, really

good. The feelings inside me changed so fast, and

this sensation was incredible. Then, I understood

that feelings of anger sometimes arent bad if you just feel them. For example,

I felt angry but my mother understood and

suddenly, the feeling of anger turned into a feeling

of happiness. After that experience, I gave to

myself the right to feel angry sometimes, especially

when living in stressful situations like that.

: to eat, to sleep, to talk, to eat anman (a

Japanese sweet) and the heater.

: to take baths, water (except to drink),Saturda s the da when I take a bath , air lanes and winter


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My mother was living alone and I began my new life in Japan with her. My mother was

working at a factory, and I spent most of my time

in front of the heater alone in that very small

apartment. It was a strange situation to see my

mother so busy because in Brazil she didnt do

much of anything all day. So, the experience of

watching my mother become more

mature about her life made me feel life

was moving on. Living in a small, cold apartment where I couldnt run was hard for me. Besides, I

couldnt make noises because the apartment walls

were so thin, and my mother told to me to not

disturb the people next door with my noises. I

confess I felt a little sad. But I was gradually

getting accustomed to my new life.

But, our lives changed once again. My mother

was in love with a guy that she met in Japan. My


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mother and her boyfriend were alone, deprived of

their families and friends in Japan, and they decided to live together. I felt anxious again

because I didnt know if my mothers boyfriend

would accept me or not. So, we moved into a new

apartment, a little bigger than the place before but

still small and with thin walls. I named my

mothers husband the stepfather. My relation

with my stepfather was cold. He looked like he

didnt like cats but he was trying to do his best.

From my side, I was doing my best, too, to accept him, maintaining a little distance from him. One

day, I realized that my mothers belly was growing

large too fast and sometime later, a new family

member came to enter our house: my mothers

human son.

My brother was so fat and he made more

noises than me. Naturally, my mother turned all

her attention to him because in the human


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, humans need more attention than

animals, including cats. Hierarchy is a system that defines who is more important from highest to

lowest. The hierarchy at my home was like that:

first, my stepfather; second, my mother; third, my

brother and fourth, me.

I found a place at home to stay away from the

baby noises, doing my best not to stress my mother.

Again, the fear of becoming a street

cat came to my head. But this time

stronger because I thought about how hard it would be to be a street cat in a cold place. I was

not used to living without my heater, and I was so

afraid of becoming a street cat in Japan. So, one

more time, I did my best to become as invisible as

possible at home, just turning up at the food time.

When I was doing my best to become an

obedient cat at home, trying to figure out how the

baby was growing up so fast, making fewer noises,


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my mother told me that a new baby was coming.

Oh my god, two babies crying, making noises, pooping and disturbing my sleep? I cannot handle

a situation like that, I thought . And what was

worse, the hierarchy at my home would change

again: first, my stepfather; second, my mother;

third, my brother; fourth, my second brother or

sister and in the last position, me, the cat.

Well, the new baby arrived at our home. There

was a boy again. Could you imagine my future at

home, with two kids pulling my tail and cutting off my whiskers? Could you imagine how

important whiskers are to a cat? Our sense of

direction depends on them. Indeed, my mother had

no time to take care of me, because she had to take

care of two babies at home.

My situation at home became worse and worse.

Sometimes, my mother just forgot my food time or

to clean my litter box. But I was very


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understanding with her. My mother and my

stepfather were stressed. They were too young to handle the responsibility that a human adult life

demands, and I knew it.

One day, my aunt came home to visit us. When

my aunt held me in her arms, I tried to talk with

her, but I was feeling sad. Fortunately, my aunt,

who had been my psychologist before I moved to

Japan, understood my feelings and so,

she made a decision: to take me with

her. My aunt said to my mother, I will take care of Bono. So, from now, Bono is our cat, and I will

carry him with me when I go back to Brazil. My

mother sai d yes, not because she didnt like me,

but on the contrary, because she really loves me,

and she understood that a life with my aunt was

the best thing that she could do for me at that

moment. I realized that in each moment we have

different needs, and I felt hope. is an


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essential human feeling that something might

possibly happen. I was not exactly happy leaving my mother, but I felt hopeful about my new life

with my aunt.

During the long journey to my new home, my

aunt put me on her lap, and I did my best to show

her that I understood the situation. I stayed calm

during the entire journey.

My aunts apartment was a little

bigger than my mothers apartment.As

soon as we got home, my aunt put my favorite cat food in the food dish, and I ate it

making myself at home.

The hierarchy at my new home was very

different: first, me, second, my aunt, third, my

uncle and finally, my cousin. I knew that because

I heard my cousin saying many times that I was

the king of the house , and the king is always

the first. Speaking of my cousin, she had become an


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adolescent. She had grown up so fast since I had

seen her the last time. And now I didnt avoid her because the chances of an adolescent pulling the

cats tail are very low, and I knew it. So, my

cousin became my second choice to ask for food

when my aunt was not home, and my relationship

with her was very good. My aunt bought an

electronic piano, and I relaxed listening to the

music.

My routine at my new home included talking

with my aunt, asking to be with her, asking for food, and staying in front of the heater in the

winter. But in particular, I have to say that a

home with humans who like animals and with no

babies is a privilege for any cat. is a

special advantage that a human or an animal has.

So, I realized how privileged I was to be living

there. I became quite visible at home, and I was

called a pampered cat. I really learned how to do


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things in my own way, so I accepted this adjective,

pampered, with a pleasant feeling.Now, with 10 years of experience in life, I

realize I have learned so many things. And I know

how to deal with each situation in life. I feel more

mature and happier, and now I can really

understood why we cats chose to live with the

humans. It is because the humans li fe is so

emotionally intense. They can learn from their

mistakes. Sometimes they are happy

and sometimes not. Sometimes they can say goodbye but keep their loved ones in their

hearts. Sometimes they can keep a connection with

another even when they arent geographically close.

But more than anything, I think humans are

special because they can project their futures, and

when they project good things, they can gather

good things, too. If I had lived these 10 years as a

street cat, maybe I would have had no chance to


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learn from humans. So, optimistically, now I can

say that I feel I was a lucky cat. And I was right about what I felt when I

looked at my aunt for the first time in the pet shop.

My life with this family has brought us, to them

and to myself, a lot of changes. Over the years, we

have seen so many changes in our lives together

and I hope that I will be able to live the rest of my

short cat life with this wonderful family.

Well, the day

Ill go back to Brazil is coming. I hate

airplanes, but I will do my

best. And sure, I know that

my routine will change again.

But now, I feel more

prepared to deal with


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whatever changes life may bring because I know

deep inside that I will always love my family, and they will always love me.

***

Bono Memories

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