I recently became aware of an interesting statistic regarding pet ownership.  It seems that since my childhood, in the past forty years, the number of cat and dog owners in the United States has nearly tripled with canines being the companion of choice.

HEALING
Furthermore, it was reported that sixty-two percent of households have at least one pet. At least one. It seems there’s a lot of explanations for the growing interest in domestic animals such as, more women and couples are choosing not to have children.  Also, fewer people are electing to get married while more of the married couples are divorcing or outliving their spouses.  So, we mortals turn to animals to bridge our emotional gaps.

FETCHING
From goldfish to geldings, some of us animal lovers like to show off our flocks, litters, tribes, schools, packs and herds. Pedigree and packaging matter mostly to those in “show” business, whereas the majority of p.o’s give greatest consideration to breeds and behaviors.

EMPTY NESTS
As I’ve admitted in the past, I’m not the sharpest tool in the mathematic drawer, but basic arithmetic tells me if 62 percent of households have at least one pet, then 38 percent have none. Nada bird, hamster, rabbit, lizard, fish, turtle, dog, cat or pony. Especially cats. Would you believe among the most disliked animals, felines rank in the top four, falling between snakes and skunks.  Given my cat history, that’s so unimaginable that it deserves no further discussion.

I’ve always felt a special connection to cats and dogs.  Especially my four-legged friends Buffy, Bunny, Buddy, Bernie, Dexter, Murphy, Carlos, Charlie and Claude, who were great companions over the years. There’s no denying I love animals, however, I would never pass judgment on a non-pet owner, much as I would hope I wouldn’t be judged harshly for not having children.  After all, not having doesn’t translate as not wanting. I’ll reserve my judgment for the manner in which someone cares for an animal rather than judging someone else’s reasons for not owning one.

Legitimate limitations, restrictions and obstacles prevent us from populating our planet with paws and pitter patter, not forgetting allergies, landlords, time allowances and economic factors.

As much as I recognize our differing value systems, I cannot stomach any form of abuse, cruelty or act of unkindness to a defenseless animal or little person.  Bigger than others should never be misconstrued as better than others.  If you want to know more about recognizing and reporting animal cruelty, I’m posting a couple of links.
www.aspca.org
www.peta.org

BIG BUSINESS
From the extravagant to practical, pet lovers are big spenders. Last year, Americans spent $48 million on collars, leashes, sweaters, blankets, beds, kennels, cages, toys, treats, food, care, boarding and grooming services.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER
The financial commitment and emotional attachment to pets is so great, the furry, feathered and four-legged are often treated as members of the family tagging along on trips, outings and vacations. They are adored, adorned, dipped and clipped up until the time of their final shake.  Even in death, pets are sometimes revered as royalty.  Cemeteries, caskets, vaults, crematories and funerals have replaced the shoebox backyard burial.

There’s overwhelming evidence that pets play a role in increasing our happiness levels and decreasing stress hormones.  They bring us joy beyond comprehension.  Dogs, in particular, are a special breed. When I adopted Charlie-the-bearded-collie this past October, my disposition improved immediately.  

Dogs are classified according to breed.  Sporting, herding, working, retriever and shepherd, to name a few.  My Charlie, for instance, belongs to the herding family and in the absence of sheep, she’s content fetching tennis balls and chasing squirrels up the trunks of oak trees. But, I’m more interested in applauding dogs-in-training programs than discussing adoptions and endorphins.


LIFE SAVERS
The real achievers are the masterful mutts bred for the purpose of working. They are groomed over long periods of time to serve, protect and save lives. Working dogs are highly intelligent creatures with incredible sniffing devices alerting handlers of the presence of drugs, paraphernalia, explosives and cadavers. They chase criminals, track missing persons and give closure to the deceased at crime scenes and places of disaster.

While many working dogs are assigned to search, rescue and recovery missions, others provide constant companionship to individuals with disabilities.  We owe trainers, handlers and working dogs a great debt of gratitude for bridging physical gaps.

Another dog-in-training program that most people don’t know about takes place in America’s prisons. Inmates who meet the program requirements are partnered with at-risk dogs specifically to re-socialize the animal.  I hope to go to one of the graduation ceremonies this summer and I’ve been warned to take a box of Kleenex.

Because we didn’t know better, forty years ago, our pets roamed the neighborhoods.  Now, in the interest of safety, city ordinances dictate that animals belong on leashes, behind fences and under cover. And, there are laws of a more courteous nature, requiring us to pick up excrement.  In the past four or five decades, spay and neuter messages have blasted the airways and castration has become the gold standard for controlling the over-population.


HELPING AGENCIES
There’s a special organization that conducts interventions with the intent of matching dogs with caring homes (www.dogsdeservebetter.com).  They’re social workers, if you will.

Crime stoppers agencies accept anonymous reports of criminal activity and city animal control officers assist with capturing at-large animals and determining ownership. Those frightened animals you see wandering the streets are lost or abandoned and end up in local shelters where they are evaluated and receive temporary care until they are adopted, relinquished or reunited.  Local animal shelters appreciate cash and in-kind donations to move programs forward, as well as, offering volunteering opportunities to qualified applicants.

If you’re looking for a constant companion, be it furry, feathered or four-legged, I recommend adopting through a nearby shelter (www.petfinder.com). And, if you're not prepared to take a permanent leap, enroll in fostering programs. Shelter animals make great companions. I'm certain of it.

In my humble opinion, educators and decision makers underestimate the value of field trips and elective subjects, which are becoming a casualty of budget crunches and liability issues. 

TRIPPIN
In the mid 60’s, as a grade school student at Paddock Lane Elementary School, our classes made treks to the local post office, a Dr. Pepper bottling plant, and working dairy farm, in addition to a nearby national monument where the stories of early settlers continue to be told.  And, on a special occasion, we had the privilege of traveling to Lincoln, where we visited the state museum located smack dab in the middle of UNL’s city campus. I’m referring to Morrill Hall with its true-to-life exhibits of prehistoric creatures and artifacts, not forgetting The Mueller Planetarium.  

PREFERENCE
Before I take you to the museum, let’s return to the classroom.  Looking back to elementary days, I was a “preferred” student.  Now, if that sounds like I was the teacher’s pet, then you’re mistaken.  I had selective vision and hearing and “preferred” not to give something my full attention when the subject matter didn’t interest me.

INVOLUNTARY RESPONSE
The first thing to ring the boring bell was students reading out loud. Hated it. Against my will, whenever the teacher started calling on us to read paragraphs, I checked out. It’s not that I felt any anxiety about reading because we had reading circles in earlier grades that prepared me for hearing my own voice.  I can’t explain it, but hearing students read out load plus me equals daydreaming.

In grades three and four, my focus was growing divided between the fun stuff and the three R's. I was totally engaged in the process of creating--molding, cutting, drawing, pasting and painting. One of our projects was making dioramas. Loved it!  Now, if you’ve never had the task of making a “story in a box” then, you can’t fully appreciate the elementary fun of it. I can still smell the tempera paint drying on cardboard.

Another one of my favorite subjects was music. We had a bubbly teacher who shared her time with all the grade schools. With a pitch pipe hung around her neck, she’d cheerfully enter the classroom wheeling a piano or electric organ. In fun, we referred to her as Miss Off-Key but we truly respected the roaming music lady and looked forward to her regular visits--learning about notes, keys, sharps, flats, lyrics, instruments and singing patriotic songs and rounds of row, row, row your boat.

Coming from a family of sports enthusiasts, I also liked recess and physical education, although I never made The President’s Physical Fitness Team mostly because I couldn’t master the task of climbing the rope. We had kids in our class that would climb that damn thing like a monkey, yet, I couldn’t get more than a foot off the ground. During the winter, we had mats scattered throughout the dimly lit multi-purpose room and during the fair-weathered months, we’d play organized games like dodge ball, now considered to be too violent for the playground. Are you kidding me? And, I got so hooked on a dualing sport known to us play grounders as tether ball, that my parents had one installed in our backyard.  

CURRICULUM
In “my day” the emphasis was on reading, writing and arithmetic. Now, we’ve already established reading out loud was a real snooze.  Writing, on the other hand, must have appealed to me because I always earned high marks in penmanship. Adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing all had their place, however, when equations morphed into formulas, I admit, I became a bit lost. So much that math eventually became my nemesis. And, I admit to having some difficulty “connecting” to science, as well.  Other than microscopes and looking at magnified organisms, I wasn’t interested in the scientific world until I visited The Mueller Planetarium at Morrill Hall and saw a presentation on stars during a school field trip. Now, I didn’t run home and ask my parents to buy me a telescope, but an interest was evolving.  The planetarium was impressive in itself, but the main attraction at the museum was ginormous skeletal remains of prehistoric life--mostly dinosaurs and elephants. My "take home" was a new appreciation for fossils and the stories they left behind.

Fast forward to eight grade when I had the pleasure of learning from a Mr. Kotter type of teacher. He was a "just-graduated" newby with young 'n fun ideas and refreshing ways of connecting with students. I don’t know how he managed to convince “the powers that be” but Mr. Harvey organized an archeological dig not far from the school grounds. We measured off sections for shoveling and sifting in search of fossils and other sedimentary surprises.  We didn’t unearth any mastodons, however, it was a unique and beneficial experience that started a chain of curiosity in me so much that I enrolled in an archeology class at The University of Nebraska, when looking to satisfy natural science requirements.  History repeated itself as I had the positive experience, once again, of learning from an engaging instructor.

MONEY TALKS
It’s highly unlikely Mr. Harvey’s eighth grade “dig” would get funded in today’s economy. It seems, too, that the arts, dramatic and subjects of greatest interest to me--music, theatre, speech, debate, journalism, painting and drawing are being perceived as “sport” among electives.

LEAN ON ME
Unfortunately, with the increasing cost of transporting students, inflated by gas prices and insurance premiums, good old fashioned field trips are growing extinct and becoming a thing of babyboomer past. Now, the burden is on scout leaders, parents, teammates and other mentors to expose kids to places where things are made and museums where stories are waiting to be told, recognizing that everything of importance is not written in textbook-stone.

POSTSCRIPT
And, if it pleases you, take young people to filled-to-capacity prisons, animal shelters and landfills so kids can see firsthand where the “discarded” stuff goes.

In this “me” generation, exercising individual freedoms is a social trend that’s been gaining momentum. The result is “I” comes before good manners and thoughtful ways.  As babyboomer children, we were taught to share our bikes, trikes & toys…trick-or-treat for UNICEF… and participate in hunger walks.  As teenagers, we leaned a bit toward self-centeredness.  Then, as young adults, we got back on track--knowing the pure joy of giving and doing for others.

Me, we, us, them and I is a balancing act.  And, sometimes putting “self” first is more of a matter of necessity than personal preference. Flight Survival 101 tells us to place the oxygen mask on ourselves first.  Then, care for others.

BEHAVING BADLY
It’s not always a question of life and death. Take one of my pet peeves for instance--gum chewing.  It’s your right to chomp, chew, smack, crack and blow.  But, personally, I find it annoying.  Here’s another. The redundant use of the word “like” in a sentence.  It drives me ba-nan-as, especially when used by otherwise-intelligent people. I become so distracted by the repetitive “likes” that I can’t focus on the conversation.

Admittedly, my threshold for tolerating life’s annoyances is low, so I’m pleased that most people are willing to make concessions putting courteous behavior ahead of personal privilege. In social settings, we find ways to isolate ourselves from those behaving badly but in survival situations, we are often at the mercy of others. Fortunately, we live among good Samaritans and it is because of them that we live.



QUALITY OF LIFE
During these turbulent times of economic instability, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and the philanthropic giants among us also define “how” we live. Our country depends on the deep pockets of the mega rich for non-profit agencies to remain operational. The wealthy and willing keep services and programs in place with money, resources and sweat equity while volunteers and behind-the-scenes players assist the abused, abandoned, neglected, unemployed, homeless, sick, needy and disenfranchised.

It’s not billionaire bucks and millionaire money, however, driving the local economies. It’s tax proceeds. The revenue from estates, homes, automobiles and local purchases keep our cities in business, while surplus from fines, fees, licenses and permits, boost the leisure and law-enforcement bottom lines.  When the tax residuals are depleted, administrators are faced with making hard choices including borrowing, firing and flexing veto muscles. City leaders must be responsible stewards of our tax dollars and we expect them to act accordingly--spending wisely, investing carefully and making decisions based on the common good.

As individual consumers--aside from settling our end-of-the-year debts with the IRS--we are free to spend, share and save our money as we please.  Locals-with-loyalty issues support mainstreet merchants while people looking for out-of-town experiences take their dollars and cents to shops, malls, boutiques, stores, restaurants and special-event venues. And, in our global marketplace, the internet--with its cyber shopping--lures customers 24/7 with hooks and incentives like free shipping, complimentary gift wrap, flexible payments and no-hassle returns.

SAD SAYONARA
Technology has also connected us to global suffering. The recent magnitude 9.0 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent events of catastrophic proportion in Japan have been publicized on the internet.  Networking sites have been helpful for communicating messages, setting up links for finding missing family members, mobilizing response efforts and raising money for legitimate helping agencies such as The Red Cross.

Consumers are powerful players in determining the success of a business as well as influencing the direction of a community. And, in Japan’s instance, I have no doubt that Americans and humanitarians around the world will grasp the urgency and help a country the size of California rescue, recover and rebuild.

YOURS, MINE & OURS
It’s your money.  You earned it and you should determine how to burn it. No one has the right to tell you where to shop, what to buy or what cause to support. True blue. But, on the flip side, some believe you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you. Your loyalty should be to the community where you work and earn your living especially if taxpayer dollars pay your professional or public-servant salary.

Spend your money on what you need and what brings you pleasure. I’m a big believer in a democratic society and I’m directing this comment to the ultra rich.  While it’s your privilege to receive daily spa treatments in the interest of a smooth, wrinkle-free complexion with small pores. And, it’s up to your discretion to fill your walk-in closet with hundreds of pairs of Louboutin’s.  Or too many purses to count. And, you’re welcome to own as many sports cars and luxury homes as you please. But, practically speaking, you can only drive one car at a time and you only have two feet. And, it seems that a couple of homes should be sufficient.  You can choose to buy “things” and I can choose to not respect you when your self-indulgence becomes more important than helping a sick child. Just saying.

HOMEGROWN
Clearly, the growth and prosperity of a local community is dependent on the process of buying and selling goods so it‘s important to buy homegrown whenever possible. This, coming from someone who drives a Mazda.  I’m not a hypocrite.  I just think as consumers we should be permitted a little wiggle room.  After all, there are several things that factor into buying decisions and shopping experiences that go beyond inventory, friendly clerks, pricing, convenient parking, clean bathrooms, live music, hours of operation and return policies.  And, having been in an automobile accident, one of my priorities was safety.


RED, WHITE & NEW
If you are committed to buying American-made products, Roger Simmermaker of Orlando, Florida maintains the following website www.howtobuyamerican.com.