Friday, April 6, 2012

thoughts on the news of the day: the sanctity of life


hmmm…..      

I love my dog, I really do … she is precious to me.  I take her to doggie day care so that she can socialize with other dogs her size and so she can get some exercise.  She eats premium dog food, and gets her shots whenever they are needed.  I even took her for observation at the vets one time when she had eaten some plastic and threw up.
            But where do we draw the line? I believe in the sanctity of life, but life saving measures for pets are getting weirder and weirder.  I read an article about a man who paid over $25,000 for his dog to have cancer treatments and surgery.  The dog was 10 years old and this was supposed to put the cancer in remission.  It did, but 9 months later the dog died of liver cancer.
            When I was in seminary, one of my classmates was there on scholarship with very little extra income to make her way through.  We helped her by feeding her, letting her borrow our washing machines to do laundry and stuff like that.  Actually, she was a little strange.  One day she found this cat in the street that had been run over by a car.  She asked me to take her and the cat to the vet.  We waited while the vet looked at the cat and then told her that the cat had major injuries that would require surgery and it was best to just put it to sleep.  But my classmate opted to pay $700 of her scholarship money for the cat’s care.
            I’m not saying it was not compassionate of her to take care of the cat, but to me, the decision was not the most prudent.  I love animals, I really do.  I can’t stand to see them abused and I believe that if you own an animal it is imperative that you take care of it properly.  But what does “properly” mean? 
            I wish I could sit at Jesus’ feet and ask him that question.  I know Jesus loves animals, but he loves us, too.
            hmmm…..

No comments:

Post a Comment