After all, I happen to like rats too. They are cute, sociable, highly intelligent, very friendly when raised in captivity, and yet are despised by a much higher percentage of the population than are squirrels. Indeed, when people want to insult squirrels, they often compare them to rats, as in "tree rats" or, in the regretably immortal words of Sarah Jessica Parker, just "a rat with a cuter outfit."
I think it would be perfectly appropriate to honor our cousins with a special Rat Week. And if the Washington Post ever decides to devote a series of articles to the rats, I hope they will spare them a horror like yesterday's Squirrel Week story, which was devoted to eating squirrels.
Yes, I know people eat squirrels, and have done so for centuries. But an article on cooking and eating squirrels as part of Squirrel Week? That would be sort of like celebrating Arbor Day like this.
So my advice to our frustrated rat friend is, be careful what you wish for. Sometimes it's better to just stay out of sight up in the high branches, or, if you prefer, in a cozy nest in the basement, behind the water heater.
