Rollin' Along

Like many of us on this blue and white marble of a planet I wonder lately what in the heck we’re doing. We’re allowing guns in crowded public places, including those that serve alcohol; we’re bombing another Muslim country; we’re worrying again about run-away radiation and the price of oil. Some days it feels like we’re hell-bent on ridding the planet of our wacky selves.

And then I hear sparrows having an early happy hour in the holly bushes outside, watch a teenage boy walking the family dog through the park, and kick a soccer-sized ball, to my dog, Maisie’s, barking delight. There’s still a place for sanity in this world, for petting cats, observing migrating birds rest in our parks, and enjoying the vernal evening choirs of peepers.

Connecting with the non-shooting, non-bombing species helps keep us sane, and if pets help us be centered and more at peace, then bless us for having them. But keeping animals has become another Humongous Industrial Complex – a $41 billion dollar a year business is no joke*. So today I want to give a shout-out to Petco. I just went there to stock up on food and toothpaste for guess-who and they have signs- big and frequent signs – encouraging patrons to adopt pets, which is so great!

Now I know they’re not being altruistic – pets have to eat, brush their teeth, and wear funny clothes wherever they’ve come from. I doubt that sales of hamsters and parakeets is where Petco makes its profits, but still... It’s an important reminder that a lot of animals are abandoned or surrendered by their owners and they need homes. So “Hooray!” for Petco for helping raise awareness of a real need – our local ASPCA will accept and hopefully find homes for 6,000 cats this year. Six thousand, just in this area alone!

So here’s another big “Hooray!” for the Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Humane Societies, that strive to put themselves out of business. I think that’s a very cool goal, to end cruelty to animals, don’t you?

Now if only human animals were seriously part of such a mission, what a wonderful world it would be.

*Interesting fact: the proposed U.S. military budget for 2012 is $553 billion, down $43 billion from this year’s request.