14 May 2010

Pets

Yogi-
They couldn't simply turn him loose in the world...
He wouldn't have been able to take care of himself and would have soon perished.
So we took him in, fed him, sheltered him, tried to make him as comfortable as possible. Knowing it was best for him, and for us, we had him neutered.

Phyllis-
I've known Phyllis 30 years now. She's lived in public housing since
I met her in 1980. When we first met she had just given birth to twins, and had a 2 year old in diapers. She shopped with her "credit card"...

A State-supplied public aid card. Phyllis also took advantage of the W.I.C. program to supplement her family's diet with milk, cheese, and fruit juices.
Without this taxpayer aid, would Phyllis and her children have perished?
I don't know... being hungry and cold will force you to take strong measures.

Should we have had Phyllis neutered? Would it have been best for her, and for us?

3 comments:

camerapilot said...

On the surface that seems like a cold, harsh question but it's valid and honest.
I have a heroin addict in the family.
My thoughts regarding her run the gambit. I begin from a compassionate place and ultimately feel my feet sink into the banks of the river Styx.
What would I do with her? What can she do with herself?
A dog makes better choices than a junkie. Does that make a junkie less than a dog?
I have to realize that tragic figures are here as a barometer; a billboard to gauges ourselves.
I can judge, I do judge and it tears me down.
I let people like Phyllis pass, I have to otherwise it consumes me.
Phyllis and my junkie will always live on our streets and they will make those choices that even a dog wouldn't.

camerapilot said...

By the way-
Thank you for asking these questions.

wksaz said...

Dittos to what camerapilot said.. I have asked the same thing as well and cannot come to a conclusion that doesn't seem inhuman. They are human beings...but the rest of us who are paying cannot afford to have them growing their ranks. The best solution I could come up with was no government sponsored welfare or health care. Hunger and cold (or hot) are great motivators. We have to stop the "help" or they will continue to find ways to abuse it. If the private churches and other charities wish to help someone then so be it, but don't make me. Kind of like a scholarship program, because I know there are people that truly do need a leg or two up and personally I wish to help them more, but why? They can live almost as good as me with the programs that are out there and stay in their 400K houses.

Not too many years ago neighbors would help neighbors. We need to get back to that.

Here we also go back to SB1070 (AZ ID law) with this one. This is probably the main reason why we are all so fed up down here in AZ. Rabbits come to mind...anchor rabbits