>I'm not too certain as to why Lisa needed to respond to part of what I
>wrote days ago on something that is my personal dream as though I was
>making it a law, and then left out the following line that I wrote which
>was "Being responsible in this particular way was just My dream for the
>ferrets." But Lisa, you are one of the reasons why I have this dream.
 
>You have made it clear that you can't afford to save $200.  in one year.
>You would have to starve to do this you write. <
 
Lisa never said she could not save $200 over the course of a year.  She
said that $200 was her average monthly budget for groceries for the human
household and that having to pay the extra fees in your dream would mean
cause financial difficulties for the month.
 
>So you know you won't have even $200.  a year extra and bring home a living
>being that by your own admission, looking at the expenses involved of
>having a fert, you can't afford to care for, are thinking of bringing home
>more, and are upset with me.!!???
 
Again, what Lisa actually said was that at present she had five and planned
to be a lifelong ferret person, not that she was planning to get her first
ferret and immediately bring home more.  Lisa did not say she could not
afford to give the ferrets in her home proper living conditions, food, or
vet care.  All she said was that she was on a strict budget and could not
afford the extra required "donations" of your dream.
 
I am sure that the factual mistakes in your response to Lisa resulted from
quickly skimming over Lisa's post and were unintentional, rather than a
dileberate misrepresentation of what she actually wrote.  Even though
those mistakes were, I am sure, unintentioal, the end result was somewhat
insulting to Lisa, so the decent and polite thing to do would be to offer
Lisa an apology on the FML.
 
It is a fact of life that many people are forced to live from paycheck to
paycheck on strict budgets.  That does not mean they are likely to abuse
their ferrets or provide them with poor or substandard care.  That just
means that they must plan for their expenses and pay close attention to
when, how, and where they spend their money.  I for one, would certainly
hate to see an elitist atmosphere grow among the ferret community where
only those financially secure could keep ferrets.
 
Scott and the Fuzzy Mob
[Posted in FML issue 2699]