It's All Worth It
People who know me, sooner or later, will find out that I have an extraordinary affinity to animals (to some, this isn’t necessarily a good thing).
I see my pets as members of my family. And as such, it makes perfectly normal sense for me to award them with similar consideration that I give to other human members of my family. And it makes perfect sense that they are worthy of the same love and attention that other members of my family and/or loved ones get from me. For example (this one I had personally experienced), when I was moving back home from the States, I could’ve easily dumped my cats back to the animal shelter that I’d gotten them from but because I had adopted them and therefore, had a responsibility toward them, I couldn’t just do that unless I had exhausted all other options of bringing them home with me (or unless the vet told me that it’ll absolutely kill them to travel such a long distance). Also, I considered the thought that if they were actually human members of my family, the thought of leaving them behind wouldn’t even cross my mind.
BUT that’s not to say that I assign human-like qualities to my pets. I don’t expect them to understand me like the human members of my family do nor do I expect them to sit at the dinner table and eat with the rest of us. I love my family and my pets equally, but differently, if that makes sense (which would to like-minded people but maybe not so to others).
Also, this I personally strongly believe, if one can’t handle the responsibility of taking care of a pet, chances are, one may not be handle the responsibility of taking care of a baby/child either. Because to me, pets and children are almost similar in their needs. Of course, I’m sure many would be appalled that I can even think of comparing an animal and my own child (if ever I have any) but when you think about it, they’re more similar than you care to believe, in the younger years, at least. They both depend heavily on you to provide food and shelter and love. They both can’t talk to express their needs and wants or when they're in pain. They both make messes. And they both can be a nuisance when they decide to be.
But to me, whether pets or children, these are all the stages that one must go thru at one point or another. All these are part and parcel of having pets, just like children throwing tantrums or refusing to listen to you and stop running around the shopping mall are part and parcel of parenthood. Puke can be cleaned up, couches can be replaced, money can be earned again. Because at the end of the day, when my cat comes up to me for a head rub and starts purring contentedly, it’s all worth it. Just like when your child snuggles up to you at the end of the day and says “Mommy/Daddy, I love you”, you’d feel on top of the world.
It’s all quite difficult to explain to people who don’t have this type of affinity towards animals, how people like us (i.e. “animal people”) feel towards animals. A lot of times it’s quite frustrating and sometimes, it’s depressing as well, because someone you care about might not feel the same way and as such, this may cause some sort of tension between the two of you. And I’m sure people who don’t have this type of affinity towards animals think us “animal people” are just nutcases who have nothing better to do with our time but mess around with four-legged furry creatures.
But in all honesty, we enjoy that bond and connection we have with animals that we can’t get from human-to-human interaction, a bond that cannot be explained unless experienced personally. At the end of the day, if I get asked “So is all that trouble worth it?” after another clean-up session of kitty puke, or when my cats scratch the couch, or when they find out how much I’d actually spent getting my cats from the US to M’sia, I'd say HELL YEAH! Coz all those small things don't matter to me.
This is not to say that people who don’t have this type of affinity towards animals are bad or inferior, better or superior. We’re all different after all; different wants, different needs, different tastes, with different things that make us tick. It’s just that some of us need the company of animals as well as humans to be complete, that’s all.
:-)
I see my pets as members of my family. And as such, it makes perfectly normal sense for me to award them with similar consideration that I give to other human members of my family. And it makes perfect sense that they are worthy of the same love and attention that other members of my family and/or loved ones get from me. For example (this one I had personally experienced), when I was moving back home from the States, I could’ve easily dumped my cats back to the animal shelter that I’d gotten them from but because I had adopted them and therefore, had a responsibility toward them, I couldn’t just do that unless I had exhausted all other options of bringing them home with me (or unless the vet told me that it’ll absolutely kill them to travel such a long distance). Also, I considered the thought that if they were actually human members of my family, the thought of leaving them behind wouldn’t even cross my mind.
BUT that’s not to say that I assign human-like qualities to my pets. I don’t expect them to understand me like the human members of my family do nor do I expect them to sit at the dinner table and eat with the rest of us. I love my family and my pets equally, but differently, if that makes sense (which would to like-minded people but maybe not so to others).
Also, this I personally strongly believe, if one can’t handle the responsibility of taking care of a pet, chances are, one may not be handle the responsibility of taking care of a baby/child either. Because to me, pets and children are almost similar in their needs. Of course, I’m sure many would be appalled that I can even think of comparing an animal and my own child (if ever I have any) but when you think about it, they’re more similar than you care to believe, in the younger years, at least. They both depend heavily on you to provide food and shelter and love. They both can’t talk to express their needs and wants or when they're in pain. They both make messes. And they both can be a nuisance when they decide to be.
But to me, whether pets or children, these are all the stages that one must go thru at one point or another. All these are part and parcel of having pets, just like children throwing tantrums or refusing to listen to you and stop running around the shopping mall are part and parcel of parenthood. Puke can be cleaned up, couches can be replaced, money can be earned again. Because at the end of the day, when my cat comes up to me for a head rub and starts purring contentedly, it’s all worth it. Just like when your child snuggles up to you at the end of the day and says “Mommy/Daddy, I love you”, you’d feel on top of the world.
It’s all quite difficult to explain to people who don’t have this type of affinity towards animals, how people like us (i.e. “animal people”) feel towards animals. A lot of times it’s quite frustrating and sometimes, it’s depressing as well, because someone you care about might not feel the same way and as such, this may cause some sort of tension between the two of you. And I’m sure people who don’t have this type of affinity towards animals think us “animal people” are just nutcases who have nothing better to do with our time but mess around with four-legged furry creatures.
But in all honesty, we enjoy that bond and connection we have with animals that we can’t get from human-to-human interaction, a bond that cannot be explained unless experienced personally. At the end of the day, if I get asked “So is all that trouble worth it?” after another clean-up session of kitty puke, or when my cats scratch the couch, or when they find out how much I’d actually spent getting my cats from the US to M’sia, I'd say HELL YEAH! Coz all those small things don't matter to me.
This is not to say that people who don’t have this type of affinity towards animals are bad or inferior, better or superior. We’re all different after all; different wants, different needs, different tastes, with different things that make us tick. It’s just that some of us need the company of animals as well as humans to be complete, that’s all.
:-)
posted by Ai Ling at
Monday, March 19, 2007
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