There have been dogs and cats throughout my life, and they brought me and my family great joy and companionship, entertainment and comfort. Nearly all were spayed or neutered, most of which occurred before I knew the animals. There were a couple of pets, though, where we followed the message of the 80s and 90s that the world was overrun by cats and dogs, that thousands were exterminated in shelters because of lack of homes to care for them, and that the only responsible thing to do given these conditions was spay! neuter! And, on automatic pilot, that's what we did.
Then, with the last cat, a child cried to discover there would be no kittens. 'Not ever?'
This got through to me. I knew lots of the reasons to neuter and spay. Now I got to thinking about the other side of the course we were following. We'd denied some of our most loved pets the chance to experience the reproductive and parental aspects of life. My family lost an opportunity to see our pets as parents, to see how animals nurture and feed their young, to watch kittens grow from blind, helpless little creatures to playful juveniles. And we put an end to the gene pool of some of our best friends! We made life so neat and tidy, and could it be perhaps, most essentially, wrong?
How I'd love to know a descendent of one of my beautiful, quirky, long-ago companions - but there are none.
Tragedy of the Commons.
ReplyDeleteI have no solution.
Reminds me too much of the kitchen sink at 1010 W.23rd where I spent 6 very formative years of my life. You want to wash dishes... do so. Whoever had the lowest threshold of disgust for dirty dishes, washed. Each resident acknowledged a threshold for them existed.
For many the threshold was quite high.
Did you really want to spend your time with all that it would take to cause (the world) to more closely align with your practical ideal?
The most painful aspect was/is resigning one's self to a dual view: things are the way they are only because of compromise; versus THIS is what its like when I am left to MY vision.
as you, a most tolerant human being, know, not everyone has to be alike, to do the same thing. If everyone plants the same 'the best peaches', rather than whatever they personally prefer to plant, the orchards and fields are more likely to be decimated when a plague or virus or drought runs through. Some diversity of opinion and behavior supports longevity and quality of survival. If everyone tidily mows their lawns from corner to corner, there are species of trees and wild berries that may not have much chance of reproduction. If no one tidies their lawns, its possible in some areas one might be hemmed in by jungle -
ReplyDeleteand, happily, there are never only two options to a situation - if neither choice is agreeable, one may keep looking - or go outside with the 'adversaries' and get some fresh air -