None of us is perfect.  [Although there are some posters here who seem to
believe they are] We all go with what we have, sometimes called 'playing
the hand you're dealt'.  Add to this the programming we each receive via
the familial environment, plus a wide range of differing experiences, and
you are NOT going to get two people who think alike, let alone an entire
'list' of like thinkers.
 
Some of us have taken, and probably others heard of, the tests that
require sorting a list of criteria into the order of importance.  This
tells us what type of thinker we are.  There are about a dozen or so
different catagories of thinking.
 
Everyone of us will use OUR thinking method to analyze a statement.
Therefore, when we read that someone did this, or a shelter did that, we
automatically sort the information by order of importance to US.  Do I
need to say specifically that vets are included in the word 'everyone'?
They too will take the facts presented, sort them by importance, and
render a recommendation - based on the type of thinker they are.
 
When we hear about something we want to share with others, we take the
facts and place them in our post in the order that is important to US.
Someone reading this will AUTOMATICALLY look at the words, and SEE that
the writer skewed the data by placing the VERY MOST IMPORTANT PART way
down at the end.
 
Here's where the situation can become a problem.  If you feel that YOUR
way, your thinking, is the only CORRECT way, and you're not shy about
jumping in with both feet, the original poster turns on their computer and
discovers you swinging at them with a 2 X 4!  Over how YOU interperated
their words!
 
Let me give you a 'for instance' in how this works.  Someone writes a
cute story about their ferrets, how they sat up on the coffee table maybe
begging for a sip of cola.  Nothing serious, just a cute story.  Then they
go on to say the ferret ran off with a cigarret butt.  Just an add-on the
the cute story?  Not to me.  I dispise smoking and I dispise smokers,
there is no point in mincing words here, because I do.  So to me, the
story is no longer cute in any way, shape or form.  The person has just
admitted to the entire universe that they SMOKE.  And where their ferrets
are?  My adrenelin is pumping, I am outraged, and I would really like to
bang that person's head against a wall.  Oh, maybe nine or ten times would
do.  What has happened?  I have sorted all the facts given and the most
important one is not about cute, it's about SMOKING.  Trust me, I really
have to stiffle myself, but I do not believe I have EVER taken someone to
task on the FML about smoking.  It just is not my right to inflict MY
thinking on others, in regards to the FML.
 
So when someone talks about life vs quality of life, all sorts of factors
come into play, and each of us will sort the factors in our own way.  The
same is true about ANY aspect of ferret care.
 
Gee I think I could have just cut to the chase and said "that's how it is,
learn to live with it"!
 
Georgia - the left coast one...
[Posted in FML issue 3564]