No one's been crueler than I have to me.

"We judge others by their behaviors.

We judge ourselves by our intentions."

Ian Percy

Satire is a lost artform within the writing community. Most present attempts that claim to be of the genre often fall into the realm of witty banter or mere sarcasm with bite. To find a truly excellent example, one has to search back through history to find the first V for Vendetta. Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, was a master of the pen, and his writings reflect a vivacious vigor for critiquing the Catholic Church and the French government. He challenged the world and made polemics cool and hip.

I'd like to think, that on occasion, The Zeus Excuse touches upon some of that fine, literary excellence.

Of course, on most days, this blog is sitting in the far, cold end of Voltaire's satirical genius' afternoon shadow: Small and insignifcant, like a pebble in a course, unpaved road.

That, however, does not mean that this pebble can't be scratched, chipped, or even broken.

When I initially proposed the concept of the Miss Litterbox contest to my friends, they found it to be truly original. Here was a chance to poke fun at what I found to be a ridiculous and absurd practice in today's society: The beauty pageant circuit. I loathe the idea of women being reduced to mere dolls, paraded about for the enjoyment of others, and then rewarded for the popular perceptions of a collective few.

The message these pageants send to young girls in our society is disturbing, and thus, worth mocking.

Having the support of my friends (who will always remain the best sounding board for my writing!), I went ahead and decided to try the idea as a contest. At first, I admit, I was a little worried when so few people participated, but I chalked that up to the fact that there were fewer female cat blogs than there were male blogs. Nonetheless, the contest went off without a hitch, and I found the whole thing to be a big success.

I had taken my proverbial stick and stuck it in the face of those corporate beauty pageants with their high-end sponsors and their waife wenches.

Nevermind the fact that not one of them had read what I wrote. I knew I had said it! That's all that mattered!

However, all tragic characters have their tragic flaw. Isn't that what your 10th grade English Literature teacher taught you back in the day? Well, in my case, that flaw can be summed up as an obsessive need to please. Plain and simple. Blame it on the fact that I'm the oldest of five children in a traditional Italian-American family.

I saw the comments regarding how other cat bloggers had felt left out of the fun of the initial competition, and I took a real interest in this. I hadn't wanted for people to feel as if they were being shunned or ignored. I wanted as many people as possible to walk away with a good time out of these events.

This time, though, the end result of the contest left only bitter feelings of disgust, hurt, and embarassment for many people, myself included.

Somehow, I hear my mother right now saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

I also hear Rodney King asking me, "Can't we all just get along?"

It seems I hear a lot of things, but that's beside the point.

If you, the reader, wish not to return to this blog over this incident, I can't say I blame you. In fact, the discussion in my little corner of the world for the entire morning revolved around whether or not to continue The Zeus Excuse as my satirical, sarcastic, and outlandish outlet. To say I was hesistant about writing this post does not even touch the feelings I had about it, and yet, I knew that if I was going to continue with this project of mine, I would have to be vulnerable and release this from me, if only through writing.

At the end of the day, I only wished to provide a unique look at something that occurs in today's society. I had hoped it would open people's eyes to the behaviors and trends we see around us. I hadn't meant for what did happen, and I can promise you, reader, that I will have learned from this when next you decide to stop by for a brief jaunt.

Marina