Animals as Friends

"YOU AMERICANS ARE the loneliest people in the world" declared myfriend from china in frustration, as he seemed to be having trouble making enough new friends. "You care more about your dogs and cats than you care about each other".

And to think, he said this in anger and frustration, not admiration. Go figure. All's well, though; he became happier when he moved from my small town to chicago, where a larger pool of prospective friends awaited him.

Talk about stating the obvious. Hell yes we care more about our pets than w do each other, and what about it? It doesn't mean we care any less about each other, only that we care oh so much more about our animals. Hell, we spend a fortune on them.

My father once confessed that the only time he ever aimed a rifle at a deer, he couldn't pull the trigger. And that's a  good american for you, a real american. Yes, we know how to kill, but we know how to love even better.

And that's the way we like it, in fact, we're damned proud of it, we americans. In most american communities, it is illegal to kill aquirrels. At least we try. A fair percentage of american pet owners kiss their dogs and cats regularly, including yours truly. And why not? They're sweet, soft, and warm.

In china, as mainstream chinese citizens are becoming aware, there is a movement afoot to stop eating dogs and cats, and to start treating them as pets and friends, if you can imagine. how novel.
I recall another zinger from my friend from shanghai "in america you take dog for walk. IN china, we put dog in wok"! He thought it was funny. I didn't.

The chinese are always willing to try something new from america, like cigarettes and rock n roll.Why not try sleeping with dogs and cats? Three dog night, baby, like the australians say. Maybe human beings might eventually give up killing and eating animals altogether. Hell, anything's possible.

Ten percent of americans claim to prefer dogs and cats to humans, and that figure is probably low. So, my chinese friend had a point. The chinese must be a appalled by this, but to us, it makes perfect sense.

In my neighborhood in small town middle america there has recently been a sudden appearance of stray cats. Several, beautiful, healthy looking stray cats and kittens. For some reason, I rather like it. I've adopted two of them so far, with maybe more to come. Stay tuned.