TheBanyanTree: Dog Fight

[Margaret R. Kramer]

I wish we could send some of our rain to folks in the southeastern part of
the country.  It’s rained and rained and rained here in MN.  Our once empty
lakes and rivers are filling up.  We’re green without even watching Al Gore’
s movie.  The corn mazes and pumpkin patches are full of muck.  Even the
apple orchards’ attendance is less than usual this fall.

But there is hope.  When I went outside with the dogs last night, I saw
STARS and the MOON.  The low flying clouds had cleared away and there was a
black sky full of tiny twinkling lights.  And the sky was still clear this
morning.  I saw Venus.  It’s been a long time since I had a conversation
with her.

I’m glad the deluge has ended, because today is fall yard clean-up day.  I
might cut the grass since it’s so long.  Then I’m going to dump out the
potted flowers.  It’s difficult to do that since we haven’t had a hard
freeze and they’re still growing and blooming, but cooler weather is coming
our way and the best time to do these chores is when it’s nice and warm
rather than cold and dreary.  The lawn furniture will find its way into the
garage and then the yard and deck will be bare until I spread some Christmas
lights around in another month or so.

I put out our Halloween decorations last night.  We’re now being watched by
carved pumpkins, skeletons, ghosts, and other scary things that go bump in
the night.

Speaking of black cats, our September was gone for four days last week.  Ray
and I worried and worried about that cat.  Finally, on Sunday night, he
showed up at our back door.  He was limping and skinny, but other than that,
seemed OK.  We took him to the vet on Monday afternoon.  The vet manipulated
his back legs and pelvis around, but said there were no breaks or
dislocations that she could feel.  She thought that he might have been
caught in something and strained a muscle trying to get out.  He’s been on
prednisone and seems to be doing fine.  He can’t leap tall buildings with a
single bound, but he’ll heal in time, I’m sure.  And, yes, he’s confined to
the house.

And now let’s discuss dogs for a minute.  While I was watching TV the other
night, I saw a video clip of Ellen Degeneres crying her eyes out.  I thought
a family member of hers had died.  But, no, she had adopted a dog from a
shelter.  The dog hadn’t worked out, and in violation if the contract she
signed with the shelter, she gave the dog to her hairdresser’s family,
without giving the dog to back to the shelter and working through them.  The
shelter came and took the dog from the hairdresser’s family with tears all
around.

I would imagine there was some kind of negotiation that went on between
Ellen and the shelter before the tears flowed on TV.  There’s a lot of he
said, she said kind of thing going on between the shelter and Ellen, but the
bottom line was that the shelter was firm.  The contract that was signed
stated the dog could not be given away to a third party if it didn’t work
out and also a family could not adopt the dog if it had children less than
14 years old.  Ellen’s hairdresser’s daughter was 12.

So, anyway, the shelter took the dog and adopted it out to a different
family.  Ellen cried a river on TV begging for the dog back.  Then the hate
calls and mail started targeting the shelter.  I’m surprised Ellen didn’t
think about the consequences of going public with this.  A lot of people who
spend their lives in front of their TV sets believe that the “stars” they
watch are their friends and will do anything to protect them.  And the media
was out in force.  And I’m watching it and getting upset.

I’m upset because I always thought Ellen was level headed and not bewitched
by her own fame.  But she seems to be enamored by herself and thinks if she
has a break down on TV, she’ll get her way.  A dog is a dog is a dog.  They
are not people.  They are replaceable.  There are millions of homeless dogs
in the US.  Why spend so much energy focusing on one small dog who ended up
going to a good home, maybe not Ellen’s, where she can’t even find the time
to train her own dog, but the dog, I’m sure, is in good hands.

The 12 year old hairdresser’s daughter was paraded in front of the TV
cameras, too.  “I want my dog back,” she stated, staring directly into the
camera lens.  Well, honey, you can’t have that dog back, but again, there
are millions of dogs in the US, and why not take one of them?  “It’s a
terrible thing to disappoint a child,” I keep hearing over and over again.
And I wonder, life is full of disappointments, and children are disappointed
every day, so what’s the big deal?  It’s a dog.  It’s not like her mother or
father died.  Keep it in perspective.

Remember when Oprah said something negative about beef and the industry
almost tanked?  These “stars” have to realize they have tremendous power and
they have to be careful on what they say and endorse.  I don’t believe Ellen
was so concerned about the dog as she was about not getting her own way.  I
think there were other actions she could have taken behind the scenes, away
from the cameras, that might have been more productive and less destructive
to the shelter and her hairdresser’s daughter.  This was a trivial thing on
the road of life and not worth all this media attention.

Anyway, I was upset because this whole blown out of proportion incident
shouldn’t be so important to me.  But that shows the power of the media and
celebrities.  I’m just as caught up into it as anyone else.  And I don’t
even watch her show!

So, I’ll get away from the TV today, enjoy the sunshine, work in my yard and
find value in the really important things in my life, my husband, my dogs,
and my cats, who are confined to the house.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.
~William Shakespeare