Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Pets and patriotism. Aside from the pleasing (to my ears) alliteration of two words beginning with Ps, I’m not sure what I think of those three words strung together.
I’m not aware of any sociological or other studies funded to try to determine if a link exists between pet ownership and a significantly higher level of patriotism than the levels normally measured in pet-less people. But, come to think of it, don’t you think that sounds exactly like the sort of study some governmental agency might commission for a few million tax dollars?
I’ll not be pitching such a proposal for study, but a few potential problems and parameters immediately come to mind.
I’m guessing that, in our present cultural climate, more than a few thousand of the study’s dollars early on would be devoted to defining and delineating “unoffensive terminology.” I’ve already used the term “pet ownership,” and I’ll bet that term would raise an alarm.
What about the sorts of pets? Oh, dogs and cats, of course. But what about parakeets and parrots? What about goldfish and beta-fish? Hermit crabs and hamsters? Ferrets and iguanas?
And what differences might be engendered by the gender distribution of the particular pet species being studied in a specific section of such a scintillating study? I’m just asking. And would you need to poll the pets on pronouns? I refer you to the section on “unoffensive terminology.”
In such a study, I’d suggest the inclusion of at least a short section on the differences between “patriotism” and “populism.” Is a dog who is truly patriotic a different sort of animal from a dog who is just following the barking pack in populism?
I don’t know how to tell. You might be able to answer some survey questions for your dog just by looking into his eyes. Cats? Not so much, I think.
Oh, and it’s easy to lose focus, as I obviously already have. The purely hypothetical study I mention is not about pet patriotism; it’s about “people with pets” patriotism versus “pet-less people” patriotism. Just having discussed this with you for a short time, I now think the idea is a bad one.
Maybe I need to discuss it with the canine who lives with us. If I can get him to calm down. And if I can get him to sit still.
You see, we’re barely past the July 4 holiday, and I don’t think this is a propitious moment to talk to this dog about patriotism — his or mine. He still seems certain that we’ve been under attack, and another assault is coming. We did our best to assure him that the booms and bangs assailing his auditory apparatus were no real threat, but he’s shaky and shell-shocked enough that I think the chances of our having a mutually edifying meeting of human-canine minds at this moment are “slim” and “none.”
I doubt a pets and patriotism study would be worth much. But maybe it’s worth something for me to think a little about how hard my Creator must work to get me to understand what he already sees clearly. His love and care for me are far stronger than the booms and bangs I so often let frighten me in this world.
Curtis Shelburne writes about faith for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at:
