esrosedotblog

Q:A

Q: How could I be 'more' upset about the animals stranded in the flood than the people? (see below).

A: The question bears an opinion. I am not more upset. I am upset in a different and more emotional way.

Try this. People have options. They have (way too late and more than a pound short) dry land and food and some comfort.

The dogs that were left have no options. They don't get it. They do not have food. They are, for all intents and purposes, helpless.

After food, dogs need attention more than anything else. They are pack animals.

I said that I couldn't look at the pictures of animals who were stranded. I could watch the people because they were in a process of being saved and doing for themselves.

Blah blah blah.

If you are not an animal person, well, OK. Go give some more money to the Red Cross.

But no more questions bearing quantitative assumptions and pointy fingers, please.

This is an interesting question though. It has come up out here in regard to a columnist, Steve Lopez, in the LATimes. Steve, who we like, was in NOLA and wrote about a dog coming to their boat and their not saving him.

He got letters the other way! How could he abandon the dog and so on. He wrote a whole column today defending himself and making amends at the same time. Two separate paths, but he did it pretty gracefully.

One thing is sure. The whole Katrina thing has unleashed a lot of emotion about a lot of things and that is a good thing. We have all been holding our breath for way too long.