Honestly, I think it varies by person. I have no doubt that there are people out there who feel as if they love their children and pets equally, or pet owners who feel they love their pets as much as a parent might love their child.
I think it's silly to get offended by what people say they love unless it actively intrudes on your life in some way. I think what people find offensive is the idea that the life of a pet is as valuable as the life of a child. I can see why people find it offensive, and also why people get offended that someone finds it offensive. Whee!
Personally, if I only had time to rescue one creature from a burning building, and there was a choice between a child and a pet, I'd choose the child. I'd choose the child even if it weren't my child and it WAS my pet. I would absolutely consider someone saving a pet, their own or someone else's, over a child, any child, to have made the wrong call.
Pets are great. I love my cats. My cats have affection for me, of some kind. All that said, I think it's arrogant in the extreme to compare the pet relationship to human relationships. The complexities of human relationships are off the charts and far away from those that exist in a human/animal bond, because there can be no true equality between pet and human.
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Date: 2008-03-27 09:32 pm (UTC)I think it's silly to get offended by what people say they love unless it actively intrudes on your life in some way. I think what people find offensive is the idea that the life of a pet is as valuable as the life of a child. I can see why people find it offensive, and also why people get offended that someone finds it offensive. Whee!
Personally, if I only had time to rescue one creature from a burning building, and there was a choice between a child and a pet, I'd choose the child. I'd choose the child even if it weren't my child and it WAS my pet. I would absolutely consider someone saving a pet, their own or someone else's, over a child, any child, to have made the wrong call.
Pets are great. I love my cats. My cats have affection for me, of some kind. All that said, I think it's arrogant in the extreme to compare the pet relationship to human relationships. The complexities of human relationships are off the charts and far away from those that exist in a human/animal bond, because there can be no true equality between pet and human.
~a