Dan Campbell—whether we are there to see it or not:
A Critique of “The cat asleep / next to the new TV / morning sun” by Jerry the Mouse (From the Tom and Jerry cartoon series)
On the surface, it speaks of stillness, does it not? Tom, the evil predator, the ever-watching threat, lies dormant. I could venture past without being noticed, without the stir of fur or flash of claw.
But what does this sleep represent? Is it the peace of the inevitable? A temporary reprieve from a danger that, in its slumber, is no less present?
And yet, beside Tom looms something far stranger—”the new TV.” A human invention. I have seen the humans huddled around it, their faces aglow not with the warmth of a fire, but with the cold, flickering light of something distant and detached.
They sit transfixed by this box, their minds elsewhere, their attentions stolen from the world that cradles them. What is this obsession with the artificial? Tom, mouse murderer Tom, at least is of the earth, bound by natural instincts.
But the TV? It is the epitome of distraction, pulling humans away from the now, from the very morning sun that rises outside their window.
Yes, the morning sun. So much simpler, so much more fleeting than the cold glow of technology. It touches everything indiscriminately—me and Tom, tree and concrete alike.
Its beauty is in its impermanence. A moment of sunrise is a gift that cannot be possessed, only witnessed. And yet, it is so often ignored.
Perhaps Tom the cat, the TV, and the sun together form a trinity of sorts. Tom represents the ever-present threat, the reminder that life is fragile.
The TV, new and distracting, symbolizes the human desire to escape that fragility, to lose themselves in a world of screens and stories, rather than face the realities around them.
And the sun, it is the gentle reminder that no matter what we do, no matter how far we flee into our technological escapes, time will pass. The sun will rise and set, whether we are there to see it or not.
And I Jerry, exist in this delicate balance. I live in Tom’s shadow, always aware of danger, of the fragility of life.
Yes, I Jerry, scurry past the TVs of the world, indifferent to the noise and light they generate, for my concern is with survival, with finding those brief moments of peace between the chaos.
Perhaps it is the humans who have lost their way, lost in the allure of the “new TV” while missing the true beauty that lies in the morning sun—and even overlooking a feline chasing mice in his dreams
Essays, Art and Plays by Dan 
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