Wednesday, July 29, 2009
euthanizing Martha
As I stopped by the vet the other day to pick up the dogs, a woman with her son(?) was standing in the parking lot holding a very hairy small dachshund with runny eyes. The woman was crying and the man was doing not much of anything. I heard her sob "....not sure.....right thing....love her....suffering...." and the man just looked away didn't say anything didn't do anything didn't touch her. I went in and started my pickup when they walked in. I moved away from the desk and quit cutting up. The receptionist ask the woman if she was ready. She nodded. The man did nothing. They briefly discussed cremation. She sobbed.The vet came out and took them into an examining room in the back. Door closed. I went back to the desk took off again, but the mood was different, and so we respectfully concluded our business. Millie and Smiley came out and we put them in the truck. I went back in to pay and the woman and man came out without Martha. She was sobbing he did nothing. They left but she didn't get into the car. He did. He tapped his fingers on the wheel while she sobbed and finally got in. They drove away. He drove she sobbed. Now I know in the grand scheme of things the life of one dog is not very significant. But for some people the dog IS the family IS the child IS the companion that shared love and sorrow. I think they euthanized the wrong dog.
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7 comments:
Woody, I think you're right.
How I ended up here? Meant to be, I suppose. My old pooch Layla was "my family, my child, my companion that shared love and sorrow" - she was peacefully euthanized June 9th.
In my faith we celebrate the blessing of the animals on Oct. 4th, the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi. I was only seconds from marking the date/time of the blessing in my calendar yesterday - when it hit me she was already blessed... and so was I.
Woody - you're right - they got the wrong dog.
Terri. Thanks for the comment and for reading. Sal and I have had many moments over the years when we had to take the hard road with a dear old friend, dog, cat even a chicken. I wish the rules were the same for me. W.
PART1
I just sneak peaked into the Woody’s country and as an illegal refugee like to add few thoughts to this interesting topic of unsentimental personalities. First of all, for people that do not know me I am proud to be in America and I think that this is the greatest country in the world if you are educated and not sick. The reason I have to make this statement is simply because I am going to look at this issue from different perspective and introduce an Eastern European school of thought, but in no means am I defending, insulting or attacking anybodies point of view. I will be looking at this issue from a neutral perspective with a slight twist and a splash of challenging ideology.
As a scientist or shall I say a pioneering scientific prospector that worked from gene control to drug addiction and ended up settling down in studies on liver fibrosis I was very fortunate to be introduced to a lot of great minds and continue a great friendship with few of them. In fact just a month ago few of my close colleagues from Neuroscience, that are experts in behavioral psychology had a little sit down in a bar. They are great group of people because in one night we drank a lot and discuss harmlessly all hot issues from politics, abortion, evolution, Jesus and last but not least the topic that involved animal attachment. It is great to be able to debate heated topics and on the end of the night still be just as good friends. I guess that is only possible with educated people because there is a fine line between challenging idea and an offensive statement.
I don’t know exactly where I was going with this story but I guess working on this grant has my mind going 300,000km/sec. Anyways here is my input to your story:
PART3
Growing up in Eastern Europe I always had a dog and it was my best friend, my guardian and my sweet heart but when it got sick with cancer and I could see the pain in her eyes I knew that putting her to sleep was the best for her. Now I do not believe in hell or haven and I don’t care where she ends up all I wanted her is to not suffer, and so she was put to sleep actually shot (because where I am from a bullet is a lot cheaper) and I was not upset because I knew it was the best for the dog. In fact a lot of Europeans, Mexicans, Guatemalans, Brazilians, Chinese, Japanese…etc, think alike, we love our animals but we do not cry and understand when the time comes for an animal to go it just happens. I guess maybe in my life I was introduced to death and seen things that curved my thoughts differently. In other words me not showing emotions did not mean that I did not love my dog Terry all it meant was that I am in peace with death and understand the process of life. We live, hopefully reproduce and we die! Somewhere in-between we fell in love drink some great brew do some things that we are proud of and some that we are not and then the genetic structure collapses and result is always the same “lights out”… I strongly believe that the man had the right to act the way he did just as much as the woman crying. Maybe, that was his way of dealing with pain. Different people deal with different problems differently. I mean who are we to tell others to practice democracy (look what kind of mass that got us into…. I know, I know that was just a political bullshit), or practice Christianity (check out Crusades which make Hitler look like an angel), or to cry (Hillary lost votes because she cried on TV, which was portrayed as a weakness)… So this issue of him not caring/emotionless act is not even an issue, but it is a social perspective and in a sense a pressure for him to act a certain way, which in our minds is humane. If he would have done this in former Yugoslavia it would be completely acceptable, but in America it is not. We are animals before we are humans.
PART 3 1/2
We are programmed to do things certain way and when somebody acts out of the line we question and in many cases prosecute the sucker. I think if the man did not feel like crying it was his freedom not to, I guess it is much better than put some eye drops and put up a Hollywood premiere show. At least the man is honest to himself and his significant other. We can’t judge people by simple acts and generalize solution by ones behaviors.
In the end to please the reading public he was an unconsidered prick, and if nothing else should have at least show some care for his heart broken significant other, but if we all were the same we would not have anything to write about and the stories would be just signs on a paper without any amusement.
Jesus Zarko. You were really on a roll there. You natrually have the right to express your feelings and opinions and we here on the blog respect them. I even agree with most of them. But not the prick, as you call him. No doubt she badly needed some comfort and he just couldn't or wouldn't see it. I read him as a self-centered bastard. Maybe I was wrong, but I doubt it. I think if you were there you would agree. You are right, however, to look for another side.
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