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I would love a cat, but I live on the top floor, and am a strong believer that cats should be able to go outside, which is the norm here, so untill I have a better living accomodation a cat will have to wait.
We had a cat for 13-14 year when I grew up, thick but compact fur, all black with tuffs of fur on her ears, she hated being picked up, but allways wanted to be part of the family when we gathered. If you were crying, she would lie down next to you and purr like crazy to comfort you. She had a great life, caught many mice and other small animals, even brought home a squirrel's tail once.
Cats going outside are a rounding error compared to habitat destruction and pollution.
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She was sure a menace to the local fieldfare population, when she was young she caught plenty of them, one day she caught three.
The fieldfares in the area often sat in the tree next to our cars and would crap all over them, so we were just happy to get rid of them.
But she would not hunt undisturbed for long, the fieldfares organized themselves, we started hearing them call out a warning when she went outside, then they started divebombing her by shitting on her, we helped clean her up and got even happier when she caught more fieldfares.
Here in Sweden, cats have a legal right to walk undisturbed outside, and she used it all throughout her life.
You can get a cat for who it is more beneficial to stay inside. For example cats who are scared and skittish or cats who are fiv positive. The former should stay inside for their own safety and the latter for other cats' safety. And they too deserve a home :)
Cats have different personalities. My cat was feral but after I took her in, she has zero desire to go outside. She's got food, water, and warn places to sleep. I let her go outside frequently, but all she does is go to the nearest grass to eat. At the slightest sound she runs back inside.