Animals

I have a secret....

Actually, it's not a secret. Pretty much everyone who knows me knows that I don't like animals.

Now, before you go thinking bad thoughts about me, I don't hate animals. There is a distinction between hating and not liking. I do not like animals. I don't like being around them, I don't like touching them, I don't like smelling them. I wish them no harm, and could never intentionally harm them, and I recognize that they are a great benefit to the earth and to people around the world, including me in an indirect way, but as long as I don't have to directly deal with them, it's better that way. If an animal is in need and I am the only one around to help it, then I will, and I will do my best to find someone else who can do a better job and give it the care it needs as soon as possible. I won't just leave it alone to die. And if an animal is harmed or is sick or in serious trouble, it genuinely saddens me. You can compare it to someone I don't really get along with, they're important, and alive, and have value, and I don't wish them harm, but I may not want to spend time with them...ever. Now that you understand that, feel free to think negatively about me. :)

Over the past year - a little less than a year, really - my family has acquired three pets: one cat and two dogs. Before these, we have not had a single pet since I was 3 years old. And I have been perfectly happy about that. But these guys all figuratively fell into our laps. And we live in a place now that will accommodate them, and I have a little brother who happens to adore animals, so my mother agreed to keep each one when they came along.

None of them actually live in the house, and for that I am thankful. I'm not the only one who doesn't want animals in the house. My mom, although she's fine having them around, doesn't want them in the house either. The cat comes in sometimes, but she's only allowed in part of the house, not the whole thing. And except for a brief period of time today, the dogs have stayed outside. I hope they don't come in again.

I got to thinking today (for about the hundredth time) about how none of them would be here if I was the one making the decisions, which then naturally led to me think about the future, when I have my own place to live, and my own children, and I will actually be the one making the decisions. And as awful as some people may think it is, I'm pretty sure my kids will not ever have pets. Until they are grown and no longer living with me, that is. I say this because, if my kids have pets, then I will inevitably be ultimately responsible for their care. And I can't deal with that. With the ones at my house now, there are four other people around, three of them being adults, that are perfectly willing and perfectly capable of taking care of them, and the responsibility of doing anything with them has only fallen on me a couple of times so far. That would be a different story if I was the mom with a bunch of little kids.

So call me a bad mother if you will, but that won't make me change my mind. And notice that I didn't say "never." Saying "never" can get you into trouble. It's possible that there may be some extraordinary circumstances in which my kids may have pets while they are still living at home, but the chances are very slim. That is still off in the distant future, so we'll see.