Is it just me? Am I being unfair? Have I just never been through a major disaster? I am absolutely boggled by a blog I just read (no, I'm not going to post where). People are bitching about losing everything. My gosh, they are ALIVE! Some of these people up and left and left their animals behind! This horrifies me to no end. Maybe I'm just mouthy, but if someone told me I had to leave my pets behind, I'd stay with the pets! They're my family too! Another (Pagan) blog I read told about how the Pagan shops want donations from people to start their shops up again, because...(get this)..."the government won't be interested in helping a shop like ours get started back up again." Probably true, sadly, but if they had insurance, etc., for their business then they shouldn't be treated any differently than any other business. Thing that gets me is that there was ample warning these hurricanes were on the way. There shoulda/woulda/coulda been time to pack a few items to take along if it was necessary to leave.
I'm probably just crabby because I've been sick.
7 comments:
I've seen that attitude a lot Kate, and it frustrates me as well. As long as you have your life, the rest is just stuff and can be replaced.
Don't get me started on the pet thing. I hate the way people treat animals as if they're disposable, it sickens me. So if I get started ranting on that i'll be stuck on my soapbox all day!
Shortly after the hurricanes, I had a patient who was watching the early morning news shows. We were chatting about the scenes we'd seen on the news. Then this jerk (wasn't a jerk till this comment), said to me, "Have you made your donation to rescue all the poor orphaned pets?" in that tone that made you know that he thought it was ridiculous that people would bother doing such a thing. He was absolutely astounded when I said, "Yep, donated to it first thing, even before the people - after all, the people have resources - pets don't." And, was I ever sorry I'd already *stuck* him. He'd have been a candidate for a little "get even" for the pets campaign.
Hop on your soapbox anytime! As a former grooming shop owner and one of the insane who was on the dog show circuit, I'm all about the animals. If I had the money and the space, I'd have dozens of pets.
People down here treat animals differently. They're expendable. I lost count of the number of strays that come through my yard on a daily basis. It's really sad.
When we first moved to NC I commented to my husband about the number of animals you seen running. Obviously without owners or any kind of care. I found out then that the county we had moved to had just passed a ruling that only allowed people to go to the pound and get five animals at a time.
The reason for this is because come hunting season, people would go to the pound, pick up all the dogs they could possibly carry and set them loose in the woods to flush out the animals they were hunting. Then they'd leave them there to die or be picked up by someone and taken back to the pound.
When I expressed my disgust to a local over it, they were amazed that I thought the animals deserved to be treated better.
I hate that mentality! We have three pets here (unless you count hubby ;-) ) and they get treated as well as my child!
We've got *only* three animals right now. My Springer Spaniel, Libby, is 12 years old. We're not sure how long we'll get to keep her with us because age is creeping up faster than we'd like. :( We've got two fairly young cats, a black male named Onyx (Nic), who has a foot fetish, and Bree, a lovely calico with the typical calico personality. *rolls eyes* And, I think we've spent more on vet bills with our animals over the years than we ever did with the (human) children! LOL
Oh yeah! Our vet bills can be a bit....ummm......pricey! ;)
We have two cats..
Pepper aka Mumma Cat ~ She's a tortoise colored kitty we had given to us. She currently weighs in at 15lbs, but she isn't fat.
Rayne aka Baby Girl ~ She's the runt of the litter from the one batch that Pepper had (oops) and she's a long haired, blue eyed baby. She currently weighs in at 18lbs.
And our dog Kodi. He's papered white shepherd. He's about two and half years old, and he's the surfer dude dog of the German Set. He's not a "typical" shepherd. The only thing he's territorial about is my daughter. The rest.....pfffft! He couldn't give a shit! LOL But fortunately I don't think we'll ever have to worry about anyone testing him as he weighs in at 125lbs.
I've had all three to the vet and all three have been proclaimed "beautifully in shape just large boned animals".
That's always surprised me.
The folks who live in New Orleans - under water and warned EVERY year that a big hurricane would destroy the city. The folks who live in the Mississippi flood plain and are flooded out every year. THe folks who live in California at the base of a big hill - who are mud slid, wild-fired, earthquaked, and heat-waved every year.
And they're surprised, every year.
Go figure.
Orion
Oh, I agree! And this is another 'bone' I have to pick with not only the government, but private industry as well...such as insurance companies. Let's say I build a house on the ocean somewhere and it gets destroyed by a hurricane. My insurance and the governemtn make it possible for me to build it again...in the SAME location!!!! How stupid is that??? Instead, there should be some sort of diminishing law or something. Like, the hurricane destroys your house, again. This time the insurance company says they'll insure your house...but only if it's because it burned down, struck by lightning, etc. But, if it is destroyed by yet another hurricane, they won't replace it again because you should have been smart enough to figure out that hurricanes are prevalent there and moved away from a hurricane-risk area. It's amazing they don't invoke the "acts of God" thing more often. I'll bet people would be finding alternative places to live and just come visit the oceanfront views. Hey! isn't that what camping is for? LOL
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