Pet Affection

I had plenty of pets growing up. There were snakes, rats, hamster, ant farms and dogs, of course. I loved all of them. Some of them were none too well behaved. This was when the newspaper had a robust classified ads section, and we often scrutinized the section offering pets for sale. I don't know if the online successors of the printed classified ads have all that. It's been a very long time since I went and looked for a pet. I suppose these days you're supposed to go to the pound.

My point was that I was very fond of pets, and especially dogs. I was a typical boy in that regard. I loved every dog I had, and since I didn't have power over life or death, I eventually lost every one of those dogs. Each one was a heartbreak. Some of them maybe could have lived, if no expense was spared. I bore no ill will over the fact that expenses were spared. In retrospect, it seems like the right decision to have made.

These days people seem to have more regard for their pets than they ever have. I wonder what accounts for that. It's some kind of society-wide thing, maybe. We're all so disconnected from each other that there's all this love to give and pets are the only target we can land any on. That may not be it. It's just some quick pop psychology. What I know is that there are more people bestowing levels of affection on pets that would have had them labeled cat ladies (or whatever the equivalent would be for men and people of either gender who favor dogs).

I have a hard time relating to that. I like dogs as much as I ever have, but it's been a long time since it was practical to have one. Other people have made sure they had dogs or cats, and they seem to love them twice as hard as I did when I was a boy. Sometimes I feel badly that I don't somehow rise to that level. When the chance comes, maybe I'll have myself a dog again. For now, I'll just dole out what affection I have to the pets of friends.