Pets: Our Privilege
This is our new puppy, Oso (Spanish for “bear” – a tribute to his Cuban heritage):
We got a steal of a deal on him because he was an older puppy and not AKC registered. Normally a puppy of this breed, the Havanese, can run between $600 and $2,000. We paid $150. And, no, I didn’t do all the things you are supposed to do when you buy a puppy. I didn’t check out his parents or his home or his papers. I actually picked him up in a Kum N Go parking lot - much like a drug deal, really. But he’s a wonderful little guy. We needed him. And this week our vet checked him out thoroughly and declared him a “perfect dog.”
Funny thing is, when I mentioned we were getting a new puppy, my Egyptian colleague asked about our other dog, not knowing he had died shortly after a car hit him in front of our house. He went on to explain his interest in the Western attitude toward pets compared to the Eastern attitude to which he is more accustomed. I could only assume he meant our sometimes over-the-top affection for pets that makes us dress them in little clothes and buy memorial stones when they pass.
Yes, that is what he meant. Growing up, he had both a dog and a cat, but he only kept them because he shared his own food with them. Buying dog food or cat food is unheard of in Egypt. In his homeland it is also a common occurrence for the police to walk the streets and shoot stray dogs just to be rid of the nuisance. My friend shook his head and smiled, “It’s terrible, really, I don’t know why we are this way.”
Then he told me a story he meant to be funny, but it broke my heart instead. Last year when our pastor visited Egypt with my colleague, they stopped on the street to visit with a cart driver and his horse. This job, much like a rickshaw driver in China or Thailand, is a job for the poorest of the poor. It is no way to make a living. Our pastor took an apple given to him by his Egyptian hosts and began to feed it to the skinny horse. What he didn’t know was that the Egyptians called this apple an “American apple” because it is imported and very expensive. As our pastor let the horse take a bite, the driver anxiously turned to my friend and asked him to ask our pastor if he would please save some of the apple for him instead. No matter that the horse had already bitten into the flesh, the driver longed for a taste of that kind of extravagance.
“So, having a pet is a privilege of the rich, isn’t it?” I asked my friend.
He smiled at me sheepishly, as he does when I try to dissect something he would rather leave as a simple anecdote, “Yes. It is.”
Oso is oso adorable!!!!!
Wow. These kind of stories just pierce my heart. On the one hand I want to live my life to the fullest, and yet I can’t make peace with being so far removed from the pain others endure. This is an ongoing quandary in my life… I think God is leading me somewhere with it, but I haven’t pieced it together yet. Thanks for sharing the story.
Yes, they eat cats and dogs in some foreign countries. There are so many things we do in the US that seem stupid to them as they are simply trying to survive. After we were in Russia, and it isn’t as bad as other countries, I looked at many things differently.
I feel the same pulling, Tracy. And, like you, I’m not sure what to do about it yet! I just know I can’t be satisfied just talking about it now and then. I better start doing something.
Dooce calls them first world issues. I had never heard that phrase before. And I never thought about it with pets. Basically all my worries are first world ones.
Oso is adorable. And you daughter looks more grown up in every picture I see of her.
Oso looks adorable to me…and so does the little girl holding him! She is really growing up!
So cute! I have some friends who have a Havanese and they just love him. Congratulations on your new family member!
Wow, that’s a gut wrencher. I wonder if I’ll ever look at an apple again without thinking about it?
Oso is adorable, by the way.
Yes, Ada is growing fast! She is 5 now and looking forward to kindergarten.
Put me in the Oso fan club. We love our little doggie so much that I swear people talk about us behind our backs.
So excited for your new beginning!
And thankfully, attitudes toward pets are changing around the world. I just read an article from a Chinese newspaper discussing how the culture must change to embrace companion animals.