Dog vs. Baby?

Meet Jackson. He’s the latest four legged addition to our family. I finally caved after five years of incessant coaxing from my son. I was well aware of the responsibility that came with owning a dog, but the application process to adopt one caught me completely off guard.  Requests for information such as: “explain what type of exercise this dog will get”; “what are the working hours of the adults in the house?”;”how many hours in the day will the dog be left without human companionship?”; “where will it sleep?”; “are you willing to take the dog to obedience classes?”, left me in serious deliberation about whether I really wanted the responsibility of caring for a dog.  Furthermore, to top that, the agency wanted references! I had to provide three references whom they all called to inquire about my financial stability and condition, my personal character and my interaction with other dogs. At face value, it all seemed a little excessive (after all, I was adopting a dog that was rescued from a high kill shelter), but then again I do understand that the agency needs to exhaust all measures to ensure that the dog will be well cared for and not neglected or mistreated.

Having grown up in the Caribbean where our view of dogs is not romanticized as it is in America, I can’t help but think how productive it would be if that same passion we have for our pets or for saving trees or for saving endangered species was also directed to saving unborn babies and to promoting the adoption option instead of abortion. If we could all exude that ardent level of commitment to the pro-life cause, maybe we just might be able to tip the scales in favor of overturning the Roe v. Wade judgment or saving more lives through adoption.

I’m not in any way trying to undermine the causes that support the wellbeing of our animals and our environment – they are all very important as they do contribute to the overall good of humanity.  Just yesterday, I took a hard fall and cut up my knees on some hot asphalt trying to save Jackson, who had escaped from his collar and made a direct dart for the busy main road. I’m all for loving and protecting our animals and nature. I’m just thinking of the thousands of human lives that get snuffed out every year because of abortion; the thousands of human lives that are denied their God given right to life and the opportunity to make a difference in this world. Maybe among the thousands of human lives lost to abortion, there could have been one life that would have made a profound difference in saving the environment or saving those endangered animals. Maybe, but who knows? One thing’s for sure—we’ll never know.

Protect ALL life. Let Life Live.