Posted on 11/26/2008 5:36:28 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
Amen.
Considering what is put in most pet food these days, left overs are probably better for the pet anyway!
The little dog I saved from sure death in the traffic was picked up today by his new family. I hope all goes well.
Another person who saw my e mail called wanting the dog late this afternoon. I think I am going to take this 2nd person to the SPCA and see if she can find one she likes there.
“Do you think that doing one keeps people from doing the other?” Absolutely.
Why didn’t you adopt six kids instead?
Don’t worry, I am just kidding. But I’m serious about the point. Time and money are limited commodities. When you expend either on one thing, you are taking it away from something else.
One person is literally more valuable than all the pets in the world, for the one person was designed for communion with God. The animals are natural resources, and one of their “resource values” is as companions to the flesh we occupy while we spend our short time on this planet. They die and become plant/worm food. For humans though, only the body we occupy dies.
>>...they offer something very special too...unconditional love.<<
Unconditional yes, but love?
>>You can have the worst day ever and come home to your dogs and they will wag their tails and be so happy to see you.....not every human is that way....<<
That is because humans are much more complex - and made in the image of God, yet sinners. People love “lap dogs”, but they don’t respect a human that is a “lap dog”. There is a reason for that.
Yes love!
I will presume you don’t care much for dogs.....probably better off for them.
Of course I place more value on human life than I do animal life, that is not even in question.
I ask God to send me children (I didn’t specify a number) and he sent me 3, if he had wanted me to raise more he would have sent them. I would have been open to them. I have animals for my own pleasure and they bring me great joy. I have picked up strays all my life.
>>I will presume you don’t care much for dogs.....probably better off for them.<<
I like ‘em a lot. But I know what love is. I also know what fondness is, what “like” is.
But I also like squirrels. I trained them to climb up my body, sit on my shoulder and take an almond from my finger. I like them. I don’t love them because they are not human.
I like trees too. I like nature, but I don’t love it. I love the CREATOR of nature, but not nature itself.
There is a line from the movie “Big fish” where the son suspects a woman had an affair with his father years ago. The woman said (I quote the best I can), “To your father there were two women in the world: Your mother; and the rest of them.”
I revert to what I said to some animal rights activists in front of a fir shop back in 1991: “Nature is divided into two groups: Man, and everything else. Only man is made in the image of God. Only man has the capability to love because that love comes from God. Animals can reasonably “mimic” love which is why we domesticate the more “predictable” ones, most “cuddly” ones.
Fact is, it “feels” like love. But for me, it is like a movie. I can cry at the end of a chick flick because I can suspend disbelief. I know it isn’t real, and just actors crying crocodile tears, and a good script. But suspended disbelief allows me to “feel it as though it were real”.
I do the same with animals. I cuddled and played with our Malti-poo ten minutes before writing this. It was great and it “feels” like human affection the animal is giving me. But that is because I can suspend disbelief as when watching the movie. If I really needed protein right now I would have no qualms about killing and gutting Hami and cooking him up.
I spent enough time on a farm when a child to have a realistic grasp of the difference between an animal and a man.
People who only experience pets, zoos and “Bambi” have no clue about what motivates animals. Everything is about why. Everything! Fact is, animals can do the same “loving” things as humans, but for entirely different reasons.
It aint love, any more than “sweet nothings” programed into, and proclaimed by a computer are love. Its conditioning and instinct.
Frankly, much (but not all) of what we call “love” exhibited by humans isn’t love either.
Love is an action, and even then only when the action is rooted in specific selfless motives. Since animals are not self aware, “selfless” or even “selfish” do not apply. Therefore “love” does not apply as a definition for animals or their actions, any more than “thoughtful” applies to your computer telling you what time it is.
I really like playing with Hami though...
I think that is great! Seriously.
A flaw in my personality is when faced with discussing a specific situation, I always look at it and debate it from a global perspective. That is one way I preserve my “black and white” thinking. I take a step back from the situation and view the it globally, form an opinion, then apply that opinion to the specific situation. It is how I stay steadfast in my position. It is based on “core values”.
But to address your situation specifically, I actually do understand and think what you did and have done is great.
Not that you need my approval. ;)
“If I really needed protein right now I would have no qualms about killing and gutting Hami and cooking him up.”
Thanks, I feel the need to obtain more cats and dogs. You know, in case things get dire.
>>Thanks, I feel the need to obtain more cats and dogs. You know, in case things get dire.<<
If that is really where you are coming from, I’d recommend raising chickens. Cats and dogs are best as pets. You should only eat them under real emergency conditions. Especially if you name them.
I have eaten my chickens and my cows. They had names, er, numbers that is...
I was merely joking. My bad-a$$es/dingos defend said clucks and bovines from pumas and yotes thankyou very much.
I have resources )deer and pigs). It would be a long time before I would resort to consuming my best buds.
Happy Thanksgiving to You sir
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