Pets and Poor People
Not one of us escapes the grind of existence without suffering. Life is suffering, or so Buddha says. Yet, there are small lights in the darkness. Tiny blinking shining lights that guide us. Rafts in the sea of human despair, like eyes glittering in the dark. With this vast number of humans experiencing life’s chaos, there will of course be variations and variety of how we choose to continue survival.
My choice is animals and the unconditional love they give us, deserving or not. Our cat went out last night, refused to come in, and we wandered the streets and alleys til midnight, calling and calling his name. The ache of longing, the deep seated panic rising in our throats, as he refused to appear out of the shadows again and again.
Morning came and as the sun rose past our fence, the search went on. We began to fret and fuss, worried something bad had happened to the little black starry fellow. And yes, something had. As the sun rays peaked over the fence, he finally hopped out of the shed, falling heavily and clumsily to the floorboards. Thunking down with a whimper, our baby was hurt. He limped.
We brought the nightshade king inside, and his leg was swollen, so sore he wanted to bite our faces. Growling and yowling, I knew this was serious.
We made an appointment for the nearest vet, they were able to see him the following morning for a drop-off. We sat in the lobby, the cold linoleum and bare wooden benches opposing the bright warm paintings of polka dot puppies, and cotton candy kittens. Scents mixed in the air; desperation, terror, vanilla frosting, antibiotics, and money. Always the cloying smell of dollars being thrown at problems bigger than life at the vet’s office. Always the feeling of joy mixed with anguish. Pets reunited in physical form, and pets reunited in wooden boxes. The fear of the latter lingers in the pockets of every client that wanders anxiously through the doors.
These people are poor and proud of how well they get by. Getting by means putting our pets first, and leaving things like new shoes and dentist visits, haircuts and new cars, farther down the list of priorities. The pets, they are first. The pets are how each of us can stare into the cupboards at the threadbare spaces hoping for more to appear knowing that it won’t, and still find the drive to wake up and do it all again the next day. Mentally counting how much it will cost at the vet the next day, weighing the differences of material goods or basic human needs versus the love and support these small furry beings give us in this day and age of capitalistic strife and climate disaster.
A small body, ranging in size from chonky to tiny to massive. Furry for the most part, their owners the most unique, united in these medical adventures. Each owner had the same sort of desperation in their eyes, the same type of hope and love. A small body that keeps its person alive with its entire being. Watching each set of animal plus human, receive their bill and their diagnoses, standing brave against the terror of disaster with their life raft of a pet, I could feel humanity in its purest form..
Feeling the tension, feeling the air almost vibrate with each bark that echoed through the building from the back. Nurses' voices reverberate around the sound, the occasional squeak of sneakers a cymbal in the orchestra of veterinarian sounds. Watching how each human held their pet, as they walked out the door into the bright sunshine, made my heart swell with love for cats and dogs, and all the pets in between.
They are what unifies so many of us, the average person, the lower and middle classes, struggling to get by, fighting the great cloud of capitalism and its cronies - anxiety and depression. Pets and the way they save our lives, is one of the most precious and incredible things I have yet to observe about being alive. Whatever trouble they may be, whatever cost they may incur, whatever ache and pain they cause when they leave this plane of existence, it doesn't matter.
What matters is that we get to love them for even a moment, and they unconditionally love us in return. All of us. What it is to be human, is to learn how to love an animal.
