A Poor Dog And A Rich Dog

Dogs can be neither poor nor rich. They can be so only according to the living standard of their owners. The living standard of dogs is determined by how luxurious their owners are. From the perspective of dogs, they are not interested in fancy houses, expensive dog food, or extravagant jewelry, all of which have nothing to do with dogs. Instead of living within their means, they completely splash out their “darn” money on anything, to borrow a vulgar word.

Dr. Kang of So. Cal branch of CBMC, which I am involved with, runs a vet hospital, and he shared with me his discovery in the vet practice. The veterinary hospitals he ran were in two different areas, one in an affluent neighborhood and the other in a poor neighborhood. The owners of pets who bring their pets to the hospital differed depending on which neighborhood they were from. The only difference was that the dogs which were brought in by owners living in the affluent neighborhood were mostly purebreds and they had paid a high price for their pedigree certificate. On the other hand, the dogs of the poor owners were not purebreds, but rather mixed dogs that could be obtained anywhere and without a price.

Generally, when I see ill dogs, it’s usually purebreds that often go to the hospital. According to the dog professionals, while mixed breeds have a strong immune system against any minor ailments, through micro-evolution, purebreds are said to have many minor ailments because they have been breed through incest and the owners pay much too much attention to their looks and pedigree rather than good health. Purebreds are said to have chronic diseases on their own according their breeds. Apart from such a background, when a dog is run over by a car or contracts a major illness and incurs huge hospital bills, the rich owners expectedly do the math and ask for euthanasia if the bills are too high. On the other hand, poor owners go out of their way to get the money for the hospital expenses to cure the injuries or ailments.

Hearing such stories makes me wonder. Since the rich are good at calculations, they do euthanasia on their dogs and save money, and then they buy another dog with the saved money. However, because the poor are without much money, which makes them feel sorry for themselves and disgusted about life, they hate to see their own dogs go through the same thing so that they unconditionally give a go to doctors to cure the diseases. Then they are out busily getting the money for the expenses. Thus, the rich become richer, and the poor become poorer.

The same situation can be found among Christians as well. The pastors in white churches located in the affluent neighborhoods can be treated as salaried workers. However, the pastors ministering in slums among minorities tends to have their names written on the big signs in front of their churches and make the names of the pastors stand out in the case of Dr. So-and-so, regardless of their credentials. The church members decorate their pastors with several flashy rings, tie pins, necklaces, etc. Some scholars try to explain this using the phrase “vicarious satisfaction.”

Let us put this in a different context. As I have been gleaning much information about how to do missions through funeral proceedings, I heard something very interesting. A certain person argued, “In deciding on the coffin for the person to be buried, those who choose a very expensive coffin are people who created a lot of trouble for their parents, but those who choose a plain one are people who maintained good relationships with their parents while they were alive. I’m not sure how trustworthy a theory it is, but it makes some sense. We shouldn’t make a decision dragged by vicarious satisfaction, but we have to make a decision within our own means whether we raise a dog or treat a pastor or purchase a coffin for our deceased parents. However, if we make the wrong efforts because we are too mindful of others or because we suffer from an inferiority complex, then what we do is promoting more waste.

October 4^th is the day when St. Francis of Assisi, who really loved animals and was respected even by animals, is commemorated. Although he may not see eye to eye with me, I am confident that he would agree with this statement; a dog must be raised as a dog. If one raises a dog as if it were a person, not only does it become a huge financial burden, it all becomes nothing more than a show off for the owner. There are many examples in which side effects occur when pastors are upheld more than necessary. There are many ways to have closure for the parents who passed away. They shouldn’t turn into a chance to show off one’s wealth. It would be good to ask WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) instead.