Well, you seemed to challenge people NOT to flame you when you ended this
post.  So I won't.  But... I think a few words are in order.  I have to
say, I was a child who subsisted on mac and cheese and hot dogs when I was
a kid.  Would you say my mother valued her schooling more than her family?
I wouldn't.  She finished her degree when I was 8.  Up 'till then it was
all cheapy food and clothes and toys.  And I wasn't unhealthy.  And to be
honest, I am 23 now, and broke.  I am again surviving on mac and cheese and
hot dogs.  And my ferrets still get their Totally Ferret and new toys, etc.
Do I value my life more than my ferrets?  Nope.  I think the point is I
value their lives.  Besides, I have to tell you, I turned out pretty darn
good, mac and cheese and all.
 
>Does anyone but me see a problem here???  Human Value less than Animal
>Value."
 
No, but I see a problem NOW!  I'm sorry.  Perhaps more exlaination would be
in order on your part.  We take these lovely creatures into our homes, they
brighten or lives, and are completely dependent on us for their care.  We
OWE them the best life they can have.  And they are a part of the family.
An important part, in my opinion.  The idea that humans have some intrinsic
value that animals lack is preposterous to me.  If one of your family
members were sick and needed extra care, you would eat mac and cheese and
hot dogs to come up with the money, yes?  But if one of your animals needed
care you would let them die rather than eat mac and cheese and hot dogs??
I certainly hope not, or you are one of the reasons that shelter you are
bashing is needed!!
 
If a family is starving, sick, dying because their animals are getting
care, then perhaps they need to seek help from outside sources, but in this
case, all that has happened is some family members need care, so others
make a small sacrifice for a short time to make sure that happens.  And
yes, I consider shelter inhabitants members of the family until they
leave the shelter.
 
You said in another post,
>Either they are so busy FLAMING others or they are posting endless drivel
>about every little thing that their fuzzies might have done in the last 24
>hours?.... "
 
Hmm.  I think that in just two posts you have said some of the nastiest,
meanest things I have read on the FML in recent months.  Accusing a shelter
operator of neglecting her own children, questioning whether she should
even be running that shelter, and belittling those kind and loving people
who choose to relate their fuzzy antidotes to us, telling them they are
neglecting their ferrets by writing instead of playing.  Any idea how many
people you may have hurt or offended by these statements?  Doesn't that
qualify as flaming?  Didn't your mother ever teach you?
 
Melissa Barnes
www.geocities.com/lostferrets
[Posted in FML issue 3192]