I Stand Corrected

Conda commented on my dog/cat post a couple days ago. She made a some of points that are important and that I am sorry I did not make -- I'm sorry I even got into the mind set that prompted that post. She lived in Southeast Asia and tells me, as, in fact I knew and should have remembered [although I have traveled only Thailand and southern China in that part of the world], that people there, and especially tribal people in the jungle areas, but also city people, eat just about everything. They are not starving but they do not have enough food. When you do not have enough food, you eat what is available be it it dog, cat, or grubs, crickets, whatever. This is human nature and it is necessary and not to be considered heartless or awful in a moral sense. It is awful that the people do not have enough food such as rice and vegetables and the sort of high protein meat most of the world considers necessary.

Furthermore people living in that situation do not have the luxury of having pets. They cannot feed pets when they can barely feed themselves. We in the west and other developed countries are lucky to be able to afford the luxury of pets. This is something most of us take for granted. We should not.

And then let me add that traveling is not something we should do just to entertain ourselves or to relax on exotic beaches and eat exotic foods [not dog and cat, I hope]. Travel is something to undertake so that you might have a broader picture and understanding of and respect for the world you live in and the people who share this world with you. I have traveled a good bit, and I thought I had learned that lesson but, thanks to Conda's remark, I realize I can fall into knee jerk reactions and type up a blog post before I've properly thought though what I'm writing about. Thank you, Conda.