Fantasies of the Poor: Oh to be a Rich Person’s Pet.

Emotion-driven humans are prone to perpetual folly. And capitalists, it seems, are everlastingly ready to take advantage of them. Greed, alas, springs eternal. – Lynn Parramore

 

 

You know, despite what some may think, I really don’t hate rich people simply because they are loaded.  It isn’t the having of wealth that often gives the rich a poor image.   Many use their great wealth for socially beneficial things.  Hell, even the nefarious Koch Brothers contribute vast quantities of their wealth to the arts, education, and medical research.

It is how some of this great wealth is spent though that rubs many of us wrong who see basic needs for human survival getting overlooked, not only in this country but around the world.  In the case of the Koch Brothers they spend huge sums to ensure that there are idle and poorly paid income earners, hoping I guess that they will visit the museums they support during their off-time from productive work .

But beyond this there are those who have so much cash left after paying for essentials and various luxuries that they still have “pocket change” left that goes to an area that is an insult to any child who goes without food or a family in drought stricken countries that have to walk all day just to get enough potable water for essential use including food preparation and limited hygiene.

In this era of late capitalism, we live in a top-heavy society where the rich are flush with far more cash than they know what to do with. That development has merged with a post-war trend in which pet owners increasingly view animal companions as surrogate children and even mates. The anthropomorphizing tendency seems to be speeding along full-tilt, with owners choosing human-sounding names for their pets and insisting on bringing furballs along to bed and even to the dinner table.   SOURCE

Let me state up front that as a dog owner I have no problem with “Millie” and “Bandit” sitting next to me on the couch or sleeping between my wife and I at night.  But beyond that and maybe a few table scraps on occasion, they live a dog’s life and I make no pretense that they are my equal.  I give them proper medical care when they need it, which includes preventative medical treatment that requires a visit once a year to the vet to get their annual shots for common dog related issues.

The relationship I have with my dogs is a close bond but when they die they will get buried in the back yard as earlier pets have and I will shed a few tears at their passing.  But unlike my wife and my two children I will not spend inordinate amounts of money for my pets on a funeral and a casket while someone who has been ordained in the clergy reads eulogies over them.

Their bodies will eventually decompose and enrich the soils giving new life above ground for other creatures to feed from like the families of squirrels and birds that inhabit my small space in this world.  I will not spend good money to have them mummified or frozen in cute positions and placed on display for me to fondly remember them.  Roy Rogers I’m not

 

 

And even if it is less conspicuous, I would NEVER cremate them and then use their ashes to manufacture a piece of jewelry to wear so I will always be reminded how they touched my life.  That’s what pictures are for.  So what if I’ve converted the spare bedroom into a gallery for my pets.  It was wasted space anyway. (Just kidding)

Now, to be clear, in their moment of grief at losing something that has supplanted a human relationship, people can become vulnerable to exploitation by that entrepreneur spirit that borders on the snake-oil salesman mentality.  And if you just happen to have a  monetary value equivalent to a few small countries you can be sure these vultures will devise ways to separate you from any excesses you have.  But I would implore all such people of wealth to keep in mind that though you have emotional needs that need to be met following the death of  “MiMi” or “Sebastian”, there are still families near and far that barely find enough to eat to meet basic nutritional requirements or water supplies to prevent serious dehydration.

Unlike your pets, these will likely be people that weren’t there to comfort you when your stock took a nosedive or the the family yacht had to be dry-docked but I’ll bet they are capable of showing love if they knew you had a hand in their survival.  Hell, they may even name their family goat after you and drink it’s milk to your health every time they sit at their small wooden table that sits on an earthen floor under a thatched roof which keeps most of rain out in the monsoon season.