Random Thought #224: Fur Babies

I was thinking of this article I only skimmed the title of and it got me thinking. There’s a few branching ideas growing from it as I write, so I don’t know where it’ll end up, but I’ll start with what the article was about.

It was about this boss talking about how one of her employees was comparing the loss of their pet to the loss of a child. Very much a “fur baby” kinda person. Not that there’s anything wrong with caring for your pet like a child, but if I’m being honest, treating your pet as a child is fucking insane.

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Before I get to the main point I wanna make, I wanna tangent to comment on the trend for recent generations to not only have children later, but more & more, not at all. The fundamental purpose & instinct of Life is to pass on our genes, and in the human case, that means have kids. Sure, not everyone is meant to have kids, and that’s a journey each individual has to figure out. But those cases are the exception, not the standard.

This is getting a little bit more into a different tangent, but I think it’s really weird when people actively try to encourage people not to have kids like them. Like they need someone else to do it to help validate their choice. It’s fine to provide advice from their experience if someone isn’t sure they want kids. But actively trying to convince people not to reproduce is inherently self-destructive to the species. I mean, look at Japan right now..

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Ok, back to the main point.

No. Losing a pet is nothing like losing a child. I’m almost offended by the ignorance, and I don’t even have a child yet.

The thing about pets is that you adopt them with the expectation that they’ll die before you. It sucks when it happens, but you always knew it would. That’s part of the deal of loving a pet. And the thing is, a pet dying is it’s last gift To you. It teaches you an invaluable lesson about Love & Loss. How much it hurts; and how it gets better.

I don’t think any parent thinks they’ll bury their child. There’s a saying that goes like this:

“No parent should have to bury their child..

I think you could add,

.and every person should have to bury their pet so they’re prepared to bury their parents.”