Marley & Me

This is my Sweet Betsy Lu also known as Bette. She is a 20 month old Springer Spaniel. Every morning (well almost every morning) we take a 30-35 minute walk together. She is beautiful. My wife & I went to a movie Saturday night. That in itself is a rare event, primarily because most movies today are lousy. Marley & Me made the most sense because any movie starring a Yellow Labrador Retriever can't be all that bad. I am not writing about the movie's worthiness only to say that yes I cried along with most of the audience when Marley's time came. I am a dog lover. I can't live without a dog. That's a fact. Actually I am an animal lover and have fed and taken care of countless cats on a daily basis for over 20 years. I just rescued a kitten from a tree outside my house. The poor thing had been there for a couple of days before I could coax it down. It now is a member of my feline family. Ok, let me take you aside here and whisper something to you (I AM SETTING YOU UP). There has been a preponderance of stories in the media about animal abuse. I guess they polled the audience to see what stories are news worthy. Night after night we find out that some yokel has 50 dogs and is starving them to death, some lady has a house full of cats with a house full of poop. A horse is found under fed and animal shelter found under funded. Then of course there are the SPCA commercials with some celebrity such as Jason Alexander acting better than he ever did in Seinfeld with tears in his eyes speaking for all those abused animals out there. I watched one last night that had some music about angels coming down and caring for these poor creatures, dogs and cats with bandages, and bloodied eyes. So where's the problem you ask? Let's start with this. We are a materialistic and disposable society who has little respect for human life, so what the hell do you expect? The problem is not that we need to rescue these poor creatures, the problem is that we need to raise human beings that respect all life, seeing all God's creatures as St. Francis of Assisi did." My sister birds, you owe much to God, and you must always and in everyplace give praise to Him; for He has given you freedom to wing through the sky and He has clothed you…you neither sow nor reap, and God feeds you and gives you rivers and fountains for your thirst, and mountains and valleys for shelter, and tall trees for your nests. And although you neither know how to spin or weave, God dresses you and your children, for the Creator loves you greatly and He blesses you abundantly. Therefore… always seek to praise God." Another problem I have is this. There is an order in the universe. God is the creator and source from which all life begins. Man is created in the image and likeness of God, his soul is eternal. In my humble opinion animals do not have rights, at least not human rights, those were given to us by God. When I see the day that PETA and the SPCA and the local tv station is marching at an abortion clinic or speaking out when a person like Terry Schaivo is starved to death, or plays the angel music with these pictures http://www.priestsforlife.org/resources/photosassorted/index.htm plastered on the hd screen, then I will give them some respect. When we think that it is wonderful, passionate and even noble to rescue animals but we allow human beings to be starved to death and ground up before they are born, well that tells you everything you need to know about this Culture of Death.