Posted on 04/02/2007 5:57:08 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
We had a cat name Lambert, after Jack Lambert. She never had kittens....
My dog went into mourning for a while after my mom died. He would sit by the picture window for hours waiting for her to come home (like he used to do when she went out on walks.)
-- attributed to Cora Harvey Armstrong
Same here, I trust my dog over most people. I trust my family with my dog over most people...
Do you think these people would have killed themselves if they had two dogs?
>leadpennies are 64 this year.<
That's Old!
On the whole of course, you're correct; however, on a case by case basis, I would strongly disagree with you. My german shepherd has quite literally, saved my life twice. He has therefore, demonstrated a highly personal value to me that substantially outweighs that of the vast majority of the world's 6 billion people...a small portion of whom have quite literally, tried to take my life....
You won't think so when you get there . . if you get there.
LOL...only by my older brother, who characterized himself when giving his toast as my best man as "The Freddy Kruger of my childhood..."
It is indeed a state of mind, is it not? (until the hard realities catch up)
Your sentiments are good but let's look at this situation.
"there are many elderly people to whom thier pets are nearly the sole source of companionship in their lives."
1st off, while technically these were "elderly", they were not SERIOUSLY elderly! I don't know how poorly off they were in physical terms, but if as I suspect, they weren't bad (after all, they held a banquet for friends). The people you're thinking of are often severely constrained by advanced age, to the point of being "shut-ins" who indeed would be lonely.
2nd, this was a COUPLE, not 1 person. They had EACH OTHER. If not the friends and neighbors they had at their funeral banquet.
I don't think anyone was "condemning PETS". Many are "condemning" the people for going overboard, killing themselves. I feel sorry for them, but the truth is, it IS overboard.
Back to the elderly thing - for truly elderly - I don't think many deliberately kill themselves. But they do go downhill from depression. My grandmother after her husband died (+ he had Alzheimer's and had mostly been in "homes" for the last few years) still had her beloved Tinkerbell cat. She wasn't that old at that point (maybe 10?) but 1 day Tinkerbell disappeared and never came back. It wasn't too long after that gramma had some accident by herself in her home (my cousin found her with a gash in her leg; my aunt and uncle - RN and MD - lived next door), and went into coma. My uncle and aunt personally took care of her in their house but she died within 3 mos.
Even my mother - her daughter - thinks Tinkerbell disappearing was the last straw for her.
It's just over the horizen, and yes, it will be a miracle if I make it there.
"What the hell happened?"
That crosses my mind and then I think, "better than the alternative."
An Army buddy used to set people up with a story of when he was a little boy. With his Mississippi accent he's tell how his grandma would set him on her knee and tell him about life. He described her as a nice old frail women who wore tennis shoes and chewed bubble gum with her false teeth. Then he'd repeat what she told him: "Boy, just remember, life is short and sweet . . and then yer a long time f'n dead!"
Every day's a miracle. ;)
Thanks, that was a very thoughtful response you wrote...I did notice that you are a "child of the eighties"...which is a good thing to be, I think.
I think they "went overboard", but...I wasn't in their shoes. Depression can make people do terrible things, it is very powerful, and not logical. It is emotional.
I could not imagine what depth of feeling they had for that pet that would cause both of them to kill themselves concurrently. But they did. And as I said to another poster, age has two components, mind and body.
I have known 85 year old men who had the outlook of a young boy, and 21 year old men who had the outlook of an old 85 year old. Bottom line: if you FEEL like an old person, that's what you will be. One cannot escape the physical aging process, but whether or not you let it define you is up to you.
These people sound like they let the aging process define them.
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